Insufficient Documentation of Use of Extended Administrative Leave at the U.S. Department of the Interior

We evaluated DOI’s management of extended administrative leave to determine how many employees were on extended administrative leave, the factors that contributed to the length of time on leave, and whether DOI policies provided enough guidance for DOI and its bureaus to properly manage extended administrative leave. Between January 2013 and July 2016, DOI and its bureaus placed 242 employees on extended administrative leave (45 calendar days or more) at a cost of more than $6 million in salaries. 

 

During our evaluation, we found that many factors, to include legal procedural steps to be completed before taking adverse action or time for completing investigations, contributed to the length of time an employee was on administrative leave. DOI, however, did not sufficiently document decisions related to using extended administrative leave, and as a result paid those salaries without sufficient evidence the leave was appropriate. More specifically, DOI did not document approvals to use extended administrative leave, consideration of alternatives to using administrative leave, notifications to the employee that he or she was being placed on administrative leave. 

 

In June 2016, DOI issued a new administrative leave policy, which addresses some of the documentation issues we identified in our evaluation. In addition, with the passage of the Administrative Leave Act of 2016, which places a number of restrictions on the use of administrative leave throughout the Government, DOI has an opportunity to further review its policies to improve its oversight of extended administrative leave and ensure compliance with the Act’s requirements.

 

We made four recommendations that will help DOI effectively manage and oversee the use of extended administrative leave, reduce money lost to salary paid out to employees unnecessarily on extended administrative leave, and prepare to implement the requirements of the Administrative Leave Act of 2016.