The House has recently passed a bill that states that the federal employees who are under any sort of investigation would get only 14 days of paid administration leave. This bill was passed to ensure that no federal employee ever goes on a long administrative leave when he or she is scrutinized.
The Limit for Federal Employees Leaves
As per the new legislation passed a few days back, the federal employees who are facing an investigation due to misconduct can be on paid administrative leave for 14 days in an entire year. This rule would be applicable only if the agency finds that the employee has done any wrongdoing. The bill was passed by voice vote.
Bringing Back the Employee
Every agency needs to make sure that the employee gets back after 14 days of paid administration leave if he or she does not threaten the safety or the governing mission. If the employee is perceived to be a threat, the agency has the power to extend the leave for a duration of 30 days time. The time span of leave cannot be more than 30 days until the investigation is duly completed.
The Past
Jason Chaffetz, who serves as the House Oversight Chairman and who has created the bill stated that as there was no standard for paid administrative leave across the federal government, it led to misuse of the practice.
He cited a prior example of Lois Lerner who was a former IRS official, Lois Lerner. Lerner went on administrative leave for four months when he was involved in a controversy related to scrutinizing conservative nonprofits. After taking the long leave, he took retirement too.
The Limit has been Reached
Chaffetz also said that there can be extraordinary circumstances with regard to administrative leaves but the tax dollars of common people should not be used to pay for the leaves assigned to federal employees who are involved in misconduct or the ones who are performing poorly.
Another Bill
Apart from the bill related to administrative leaves, the House also passed a bill that requires the access to the personnel files of those federal employees who decided to quit the job while they were under investigation. The files would be used to highlight any findings of misconduct done by the employee so that the employee cannot get away with the matter by quitting the job.
