GAO: Thousands of Federal Workers on Extended Paid Leave - East Idaho News
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GAO: Thousands of Federal Workers on Extended Paid Leave

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Getty 102114 Paycheck?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1413929218409iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — More than 57,000 government workers were placed on paid administrative leave for over one month between 2011 and 2013, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released on Tuesday, with 263 employees being paid while on leave for over a year.

The GAO review looked at data from the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The GAO noted “inaccuracies in Office of Personnel Management data” caused by differences in agencies’ leave-recording practices and what the OPM considers paid administrative leave and differences in what payroll providers report as paid administrative leave.

While 97 percent of employees placed on paid administrative leave spent 20 days or less on leave, 57,336 were on leave for between one month and three years.

The GAO called upon the OPM to “develop agency and payroll provider guidance regarding the recording and reporting of paid administrative leave” to minimize the cost of paying workers on leave. The Washington Post reports that between 2011 and 2013, the tab for workers on leave was more than $775 million.

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta said on Tuesday that she took the GAO’s recommendations seriously and will aim to ensure all leave policies are used and reported properly. She noted that “use of administrative leave is under the authority of each individual agency, and that each agency has the ultimate responsibility to use their discretion to determine its proper use.”


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