Issue Briefs

Following is a summary of recently proposed regulations from OPM that among other things stress the expected restrictions on use of administrative leave in disciplinary situations.

In this proposed regulation, OPM proposes to add three new subparts to 5 CFR part 630 that correspond to the three new statutory sections in 5 U.S.C. chapter 63: Subpart N, Administrative Leave (implementing 5 U.S.C. 6329a); Subpart O, Investigative Leave and Notice Leave (implementing 5 U.S.C. 6329b); and Subpart P, Weather and Safety Leave (implementing 5 U.S.C. 6329c).

Administrative leave is permitted—at an agency’s discretion but subject to statutory and regulatory requirements—when an agency determines that no other paid leave is available under other law. Under § 6329a(b)(1), an agency may place an employee on administrative leave for no more than 10 total workdays in any given calendar year.

Investigative leave and notice leave are permitted—at an agency’s discretion but subject to statutory and regulatory requirements—when an agency determines that an employee must be removed from the workplace while under investigation or during a notice period (i.e., the period after the employee has received a proposed notice of adverse action before a final decision is made and takes effect). These two types of leave may be used only when an authorized agency official determines, through evaluation of baseline factors, that the continued presence of the employee in the workplace may pose a threat to the employee or others, result in the destruction of evidence relevant to an investigation, result in loss of or damage to Government property, or otherwise jeopardize legitimate Government interests. Before using these two types of leave, agencies must consider options to avoid or minimize the use of paid leave, such as changing the employee’s duties or work location. Use of investigative leave is subject to time limitations and special approvals for extensions.

Weather and safety leave is permitted—at an agency’s discretion but subject to statutory and regulatory requirements, agency policies, and lawful collective bargaining provisions—when an agency determines that employees cannot safely travel to and from, or perform work at, their normal worksite, a telework site, or other approved location because of severe weather or other emergency situations. There are no time limitations with respect to this type of leave.

Both the law and the proposed regulations address recordkeeping and reporting requirements with which agencies must comply. Agencies must keep separate records on each type of leave: administrative leave, investigative leave, notice leave, and weather and safety leave.

In the latter portion of this Supplementary Information, we present a section-by-section explanation for the regulations in each subpart (N, O, and P).

Effective Date

The Act directs OPM to prescribe (i.e., publish) regulations to carry out the new statutes on administrative leave, investigative leave, notice leave, and weather and safety leave no later than 270 calendar days after the Act’s enactment on December 23, 2016—i.e., September 19, 2017. (See 5 U.S.C. 6329a(c)(1), 6329b(h)(1), and section 6329c(d).) The Act further directs that agencies “revise and implement the internal policies of the agency” to meet the statutory requirements pertaining to administrative leave, investigative leave, and notice leave no later than 270 calendar days after the date on which OPM issues its regulations. (See 5 U.S.C.

6329a(c)(2) and 6329b(h)(2).) There is no similar agency implementation provision in the law governing weather and safety leave.

When OPM issues final regulations, we intend to specify that the regulations for subparts N and O (dealing with administrative leave and investigative/notice leave, respectively) will take effect 270 days after publication by specifying a separate “implementation date.” Consistent with the statutory provisions, agencies will have 270 calendar days following the date of publication of the final regulations to revise and implement internal policies to meet the new requirements. That will give agencies time to develop internal policies and procedures, including necessary changes in recordkeeping and reporting systems. OPM intends to further specify that subpart P (dealing with weather and safety leave) will take effect 30 days after the date of publication of the final regulations. However, we expect to delay enforcing the requirement that agencies separately report weather and safety leave to OPM until the 270th day following publication of the final regulations.

Amendment to Annual and Sick Leave Regulations

In OPM’s regulations dealing with general provisions for annual and sick leave (5 CFR subpart B), we propose to remove the second sentence in § 630.206(a), which reads: “If an employee is unavoidably or necessarily absent for less than one hour, or tardy, the agency, for adequate reason, may excuse him without charge to leave.” This regulation was not an authority for creating a type of paid time off, but merely recognized the existence of agency authority to provide brief periods of excused absence under Comptroller General decisions.

Now that OPM has authority to regulate the use of administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a, it is more appropriate for this particular application of administrative leave to be covered under the new regulations. We would expect administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a to be used rarely, if at all, for the purpose of excusing a tardy employee. We note that weather and safety leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329c may appropriately be used so that, due to weather or other emergency conditions, an agency may allow employees to have a delayed arrival to avoid unsafe travel conditions.