Fort Knox, Kentucky -- A Fort Knox Civilian Personnel Advisory Center spokesperson recently said that new regulations restrict and provide oversight on the federal administrative leave policy designed to curb gross misuse of the policy.
"Administrative leave is 'excused leave' [for which] you are still paid as if you were working; it doesn't affect your benefits, and it isn't charged against your [accrued] leave," said Rhonda Anderson, a labor management employee relations human resources specialist with CPAC. "In the past, some organizations used it irresponsibly, and it was a real problem."
According to an information piece by Federal Register: The Daily Journal of the United States Government (https://www.federalregister.gov/document), the Administrative Leave Act of 2016 was designed to deal with long periods of administrative leave "primarily due to extended personnel investigations."
Anderson said administrative leave for investigative purposes is typically directed by individual federal agencies and may be given to persons being investigated or to anyone considered an interference to an investigation.
The article states that the new bill encourages agencies to use administrative leave sparingly and reasonably by requiring agencies to exhaust other alternatives first, by expediting investigations to return employees to work or take appropriate actions, and by requiring agencies to keep accurate records of its use.
To better account for leave, the bill differentiates between investigative leave and notice leave and restricts how they are used and for how long they may be used.
Notice leave is the time period from the time an agency provides notice of a potential adverse action until that time when the agency takes action.
The article states that these two types of leave may be used only when an authorized agency official determines that the continued presence of an employee poses a threat to the employee or others, or when there exists a threat to destroy relevant evidence, a threat to government property, or a threat to jeopardize government interests.
When deemed appropriate, "admin leave" is subject to the congressional act's time and extension limits, which states that initial investigations will afford 10 days of paid leave and that any extension will be in increments of a 30-day allowance not to exceed 120 days of paid leave. Further extensions may be decided by Congress.
Agencies also determine to grant weather and safety leave when travel to and from work is dangerous or when the worksite is deemed dangerous. Telework from home or another work location may be approved, instead.
The civilian employee's pay site, Automated Time, Attendance and Production System, is how leave is coded. Anderson said required records and reporting regulations, which differentiate between investigation, notice and weather and safety leave, are helpful in limiting admin leave abuse.
"It's easier to track, and [abuse] has gone down," Anderson said. "The commands must approve it, and everyone can see how it's being used."
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