A bipartisan bill offered in the Senate (S-2450) would generally end the practice of keeping employees on paid “administrative leave”–also called excused absence–while disciplinary actions are pending against them.
The measure would generally require that employees be kept in their regular jobs, telework or be temporarily reassigned, except in rare cases where the agency determines they should not be working. The bill also would require OPM to issue regulations and report on current agency practices.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently scheduled, but postponed, a vote on a similar bill that would generally limit administrative leave for an employee to 14 days per year.
Administrative leave has drawn scrutiny from GAO and the Congress in recent years, with reports showing that some employees have been on such paid leave for a year or longer pending disciplinary action. OPM last year directed in a memo that agencies cut back on use of the leave in such situations. But controversy over the practice has continued, with some members of Congress continuing to press agencies to justify their use of the leave and expressing dissatisfaction with the responses.
The Senior Executives Association endorsed the Senate bill, saying that “the misuse of extended administrative leave has long had many detrimental impacts on the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations.”
