WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley has asked two federal agencies with relative success in limiting paid administrative leave for employees, the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor, to describe their best practices and challenges in implementing curbs on such leave.  Grassley’s inquiry came soon before a key Senate committee passed legislation he co-wrote to limit excessive paid administrative leave government-wide.
 
“At least two agencies have been more successful than others in limiting excessive paid leave,” Grassley said.  “Their experience will be helpful as our bill moves forward and could become the law that all agencies will implement.  They’re well-positioned to advise Congress, other agencies, and the Office of Personnel Management on what works and what doesn’t.”  
 
Grassley noted that of the 19 agencies that his office surveyed for a staff report on administrative leave, the Justice Department had the “most robust controls” over the use of administrative leave.  Grassley said the Justice Department’s relative success is noteworthy because it has the second-highest percentage of full-time law enforcement officers among federal agencies.  Some observers have argued that law enforcement officers need extended amounts of leave compared to non-law enforcement employees when engaged in personnel disputes or misconduct, but the Justice Department’s numbers appear to show that is not the case.
 
Grassley wrote that the Department of Labor has been relatively low in its use of paid administrative leave compared to other agencies.  The department had no employee on leave for a year or more for fiscal years 2011 through 2013.  He asked the department to account for its relative success in limiting extended paid leave and the challenges and lessons learned in implementing leave controls.  
 
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today approved a bill that would reduce federal paid administrative leave and protect whistleblowers and taxpayer dollars.  The bipartisan Administrative Leave Act of 2016 (S. 2450) has reforms including codifying a definition of administrative leave separate from other forms of paid leave or excused absence already legislatively authorized, instead of the current practice of granting this type of leave as an exercise of agency discretion.  It would create new categories of leave, investigative or notice leave, separate from administrative leave, for extended excused absences due to personnel matters, in the rare instances during an investigation or when an adverse action is proposed and an  employee needs to be out of the office.
 
Grassley co-authored the bill after his oversight and inquiries documented extended paid leave at multiple federal agencies, costing billions of dollars over time.  
 
Grassley’s letters to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez are available here and here.  
 
 

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