The SSA has taken actions in response to a 2010 report on its use of administrative leave but some employees still are put on such leave for extended periods, an IG report has said.
The earlier report reviewed instances where SSA employees received 1,000 or more hours of administrative leave and found that timekeepers or certifiers did not retain justification for the extended periods and that SSA did not develop a process to monitor extended leave use. In response, SSA required senior executive approval of extended leave, the new report said.
In examining use of that leave over 2008-2015, the IG found that SSA granted 1,000 or more hours of administrative leave to 46 employees pending investigations into allegations of misconduct. The average number of hours for those employees was nearly 2,100–slightly more than a full work year.
“Grants of extended leave in these cases were within management officials’ discretion and authority; and agency officials retained information regarding the circumstances surrounding the leave grants,” it said. However, contrary to SSA policy, the office of operations did not document regional commissioner approval in eight of those instances.
IG and GAO reports finding excessive use of administrative leave led to enactment late in 2016 of language to limit the practice government-wide; however, OPM has not yet issued the needed implementing rules.
