FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Contact:
Peter T. Jenkins (202) 265-4189 pjenkins@peer.org
Feds Finally Regulate Administrative and Investigative Leave
PEER Petition and Lawsuit Prompted Move to Enforce 2016 Anti-Limbo Law
Washington, DC — The management practice of summarily exiling federal employees from work by placing them on paid leave with few guardrails has finally come to an end, according to regulations published today by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In July of this year, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) sued OPM to compel the publication of these rules, which detail mandatory administrative and investigative leave procedures for all federal agencies.
In 2016, Congress passed the Administrative Leave Act to end routine reliance on involuntary leaves that “exceeded reasonable use,” citing cases where employees were paid to stay home in “limbo” for months and, in some cases, years of not being able to work. Although Congress directed OPM to finalize implementing regulations no later than September 19, 2017, OPM didn’t finalize the regulations until today – more than seven years late.
“These regulations provide important protections for civil servants from having arbitrary leave imposed on them, which was a real fear given the severely anti-worker statements of the incoming Trump Administration,” said Peter Jenkins, Senior Counsel at PEER. “We achieved our aim of pushing the Biden Administration to carry this ball over the goal line, and not a moment too soon.”
In 2023, PEER formally petitioned OPM to issue the final regulations. Despite OPM’s statement that they would be issued by June 2024, the agency did not follow through. PEER then sued OPM in DC District Court to compel their issuance. That suit became moot with today’s Federal Register filing.
OPM’s final regulations limit involuntary administrative leave to a maximum of ten days in any year. They also put time limits on and formalize the previously unregulated processes around investigative leave, which will cut down on its abuse. PEER’s petition and lawsuit cited past instances of administrative/investigative leave being imposed for as long as three years on PEER’s clients. In addition to reducing such abuses, the new regulations should save U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
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Look at PEER’s 2023 legal petition
