On another workforce management topic set for attention from Capitol Hill, the EPA IG has issued an “early warning” report to management that some agency employees have been in paid status while on administrative leave and not doing their jobs for lengthy periods.
Several members of Congress asked the IG to look into the issue after EPA was mentioned in a recent GAO report on administrative leave, which it found agencies commonly use for lengthy periods when employees for example are under investigation for conduct that could lead to disciplinary action—even though federal policies contemplate that such leave is to be used rarely and when used is to be short.
The IG’s sampling found eight employees who had been on administrative leave for four months, for of them for more than a year and three for several years—at a cost in salary alone of $1.1 million.
It further “identified significantly higher amounts of administrative leave recorded for sampled EPA employees than were reported by GAO.” The IG review is ongoing.
The report is here: http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2014/20141119-15-N-0025.pdf