Administrative Leave

Administrative Leave (Excused Absence) at Department of Commerce

Purpose

This policy applies to all Department of Commerce (Commerce) Operating Units (Bureaus) and Secretarial Offices. The policy describes proper uses of administrative leave, commonly known as “excused absence.” It defines administrative leave, identifies appropriate uses of administrative leave, details delegations of authority for approval, provides instructions on how to record administrative leave, and identifies improper use of administrative leave.

Supersedes

This policy supersedes all previous versions of administrative leave policy, including Human Resources Bulletins, issued by Commerce (including those issued by Bureaus and Secretarial Offices). In the event of any conflict between this policy and any other existing policies, procedures, or guidelines, the provisions of this policy shall prevail.

What is Administrative Leave?

Administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a is an administratively authorized absence from duty— without loss of pay or charge to other leave. Administrative leave is one type of leave status that may apply to covered Federal employees. For employees for whom an established work schedule is in eﬀect, all hours in the work schedule must be categorized as one of the following: (1) duty hours, (2) paid leave or other paid time oﬀ hours, or (3) leave without pay or other nonpay status hours.

Unless otherwise stated, all references to “administrative leave” refer to administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a.

This policy is subject to collective bargaining as may be required under law or collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Managers and employees at Commerce should consult their servicing human resources office and the Office of General Counsel for additional guidance on how to interpret or apply this policy and any applicable CBA.

Applicability

Employee coverage

This policy applies to all employees of Commerce who have an established full-time or part-time work schedule. It does not apply to employees who work on an intermittent basis. To be a covered employee, an individual must qualify as an employee as deﬁned in 5 U.S.C. 2105 and be covered by the administrative leave law in 5 U.S.C. 6329a. For employees covered by section 6329a, it is the exclusive administrative leave authority.

Administrative leave does not apply to leave-exempt employees—i.e., Presidential appointees who are excluded from coverage under title 5 leave laws (5 U.S.C. 6301(a)(2)(x)-(xiii)) because they are entitled to the pay of their oﬃces solely because of their status as oﬃcers (5 U.S.C. 5508). Such employees' pay is not based on the hours they work, but on the position they hold. They do not have an established work schedule.

Situations covered

Administrative leave may be used for Commerce employees in situations in which no other paid leave or other paid time oﬀ is available under other statute or Presidential directive (5 U.S.C. 6329a(a)(1)(B)) as long as the use is determined to be appropriate under U.S. Oﬃce of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations, Governmentwide policies, and Commerce policies in this document. Administrative leave stands alone and cannot be used simultaneously with another type of available paid leave or paid time oﬀ (e.g. for the same time other leave has been granted/used); however, it may be used consecutively with other leave in some circumstances.

If the President uses his/her Constitutional authority as head of the Executive branch to direct agencies to provide a paid excused absence in a particular set of circumstances, the excused absence is not administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a and is not covered by this policy.

Under OPM regulations, there are two categories of administrative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329a: (1) administrative leave for investigative purposes and (2) administrative leave for all other purposes. See section Authorized Governmentwide Uses regarding the placement of employees on administrative leave for investigative purposes for 10 workdays in a calendar year prior to use of investigative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329b.

Agency discretion

Administrative leave is not an entitlement, and Commerce is not required to provide it (5 CFR 630.1403(a)(2)). Administrative leave is provided to employees of Commerce at the discretion of the Secretary or other authorized Commerce oﬃcials to whom authority has been properly delegated under this policy or other oﬃcial delegation of authority. Authorized Commerce oﬃcials retain discretion to approve or not approve administrative leave in any circumstance based on agency judgments regarding mission needs (5 CFR 630.1403(a)(4)). Commerce’s administrative leave policy may be changed at any time at management’s discretion. In most instances, the employee’s supervisor may approve administrative leave subject to the provisions of this policy.

Authorized Commerce oﬃcials may require that an employee use administrative leave. An employee does not have the right to refuse administrative leave. (See 5 CFR 630.1405(c).) The action to require use of administrative leave is not an adverse action under 5 U.S.C. chapter 75 or 5 CFR part 752.

Not applicable to time that qualiﬁes as duty time

Administrative leave may not be applied to a period of time that qualiﬁes as duty time even though the employee may be excused from regular duties. Authorized Commerce oﬃcials are responsible for determining whether a period of time qualiﬁes as duty time based on the direct

and substantive connection to Commerce's mission and/or appropriated functions, the authorities and duties bestowed by Congress or the President, and legislative or regulatory requirements speciﬁcally related to the activity. Appendix 2 provides examples of scenarios in which employees are excused from regular duties, but the time is considered duty time, and thus administrative leave is not applicable.

Authority

Law and regulations

5 U.S.C. 6329a

5 CFR part 630, subpart N

Federal Register notice of ﬁnal rule for administrative leave (December 17, 2024)

Governmentwide policies

OPM regulations require that, in developing agency policies regarding the appropriate uses and corresponding amounts of administrative leave, authorized Commerce oﬃcials must consider various factors, including “current Administration policies that identify Governmentwide interests” (5 CFR 630.1403(a)(6)). This policy incorporates the following Governmentwide policies and thus satisﬁes this requirement:

OPM Fact Sheet: Administrative Leave (issued May 30, 2025)

OPM memorandum of January 3, 2025, to agency heads (including guidance on administrative leave)

OPM memorandum of January 20, 2025 (revised on March 4, 2025), to agency heads (providing guidance on the use of administrative leave as part of workforce restructuring or realignment initiatives)

OPM memorandum of January 28, 2025, to agency heads (providing guidance on the Governmentwide Deferred Resignation Program)

OPM memorandum of February 4, 2025, to agency heads (regarding legality of Deferred Resignation Program, including use of administrative leave under that program)

Authority to provide administrative leave and delegation of that authority

General. The authority of Commerce to provide administrative leave rests with the Secretary and Commerce oﬃcials to whom that authority has been speciﬁcally delegated. Delegations of authority must be traced back to the Secretary. In this policy, the term “authorized Commerce official(s)” refers to the Commerce official(s) who have delegated authority to provide administrative leave in the speciﬁed set of circumstances under this policy or other oﬃcial delegation of authority. Subject to the provisions of this policy, supervisors have delegated the authority to grant administrative leave to employees in most instances where such circumstances that have been authorized by this policy and/or policies established by the heads of each Operating Unit (Bureau) or Secretarial Office. Each authorized Commerce oﬃcial is accountable for the policies he/she establishes and for decisions to approve administrative leave in situations not covered by a speciﬁc policy and should be prepared to show how he/she gave due consideration to the principles and requirements in law, regulations, and this policy.

Control of approvals. Use of administrative leave may be approved only if (1) the speciﬁc type of use and amount of leave for that use has been authorized in this policy or other written policies issued by an authorized Commerce oﬃcial or (2) the use is permitted under general written policies and is speciﬁcally approved on a case-by-case basis by an authorized Commerce oﬃcial in the Senior Executive Service or similar executive leadership position that is at least one level higher than the oﬃcial making the initial determination to approve administrative leave (e.g. a second-level supervisor or above). Authorized Commerce oﬃcials who delegate authority to approve administrative leave under general written policies may make delegations contingent upon meeting additional requirements speciﬁed in the delegation.

Decision factors. As required by OPM regulations (5 CFR 630.1403(a)(6)), in developing Commerce policies regarding the appropriate uses and corresponding amounts of administrative leave and in approving speciﬁc incidents of administrative leave where the particular use was not speciﬁcally authorized in agency policies, authorized Commerce oﬃcials must consider the following factors:

The regulations in 5 CFR part 630, subpart N;

The eﬀect on productivity and the agencyʼs ability to meet mission needs;

Current Administration policies that identify Governmentwide interests;

The strength of the justiﬁcation for using appropriated funds for the

administrative leave in question;

Consistent treatment of similarly situated employees; and

The degree of delegation that is appropriate for various uses of administrative leave.

These factors must also be considered when a delegation of authority to approve use of administrative leave is established.

Guiding Principles and General Rules

Guiding principles

An authorized Commerce oﬃcial may provide administrative leave only if he/she determines that the use would meet one or more of the following four guiding principles (5 CFR 630.1403(a)(1)):

The absence is directly related to the agencyʼs mission;

The absence is oﬃcially sponsored or sanctioned by the agency;

The absence will clearly enhance the professional development or skills of the employee in the employee’s current position; or

The absence is in the interest of the agency or of the Government as a whole.

Not an entitlement

Administrative leave is not an entitlement, but is an authority, entrusted to the discretion of Commerce. Authorized Commerce oﬃcials must retain the discretion to approve or not approve administrative leave in any circumstance based on agency judgments regarding mission needs.

Length of use

Administrative leave is appropriately used for brief or short periods of time—usually for not more than 1 workday. However, an incidence of administrative leave lasting more than 1 workday may be approved when determined to be appropriate by an authorized Commerce oﬃcial based on the guiding principles. For example, use of administrative leave as a transition-to-separation tool to facilitate workforce restructuring and realignment initiatives serves long- term agency and Governmentwide interests and is appropriate. In addition, Commerce policy allows supervisors to approve administrative leave for longer than 1 workday, subject to the approval criteria of Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses of this policy, as well as the delegations of authority in Appendix 1.

Ad hoc versus recurring use

Generally, administrative leave should be provided on an ad hoc, event-speciﬁc, or time- limited basis. When administrative leave is approved for use under a speciﬁc set of circumstances that may recur (e.g., blood donations, voting-related activities), authorized agency oﬃcials always retain discretion to not approve administrative leave in a given scenario due to mission needs.

Appropriate Uses

This section identiﬁes appropriate uses of administrative leave under Governmentwide policies and provides selected examples of appropriate uses of administrative leave for employees of Commerce. Commerce retains discretion to provide or not provide administrative leave in the listed scenarios; however, under Governmentwide or agency policies, a determination may be made that use of administrative leave should be encouraged in a speciﬁc scenario.

Supervisors may approve all administrative leave under section Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses below without further approval from a higher-level approving official. For those instances of administrative leave that do not appear below in those sections, supervisors may approve administrative leave only with the concurrence from a member of the Senior Executive Service above the supervisor in their chain of command.

Authorized Governmentwide uses

Investigative purposes

Under the governing law and regulation, the employee’s supervisor may place an employee on administrative leave for investigative purposes, but only until the limit of 10 workdays in the calendar year (January 1-December 31) has been reached. This 10- workday limit applies only to the placement of employees on administrative leave for investigative purposes, not to other uses of administrative leave. Once the 10-workday limit has been reached, and if there remains a need to keep the employee in a paid duty status because of an investigation, an authorized Commerce oﬃcial may then use section 6329b investigative leave. (See 5 U.S.C. 6329a(b)(1) and 6329b(b)(3)(A) and 5 CFR 630.1404.) Note that section 6329b investigative leave may not be used until the 10- workday limit has been reached. Once the 10-workday limit has been reached, and an employee has been placed on an initial period of section 6329b investigative leave in connection with a given investigation, the 10-workday limit is no longer applicable to that investigation, even if the investigation continues into a subsequent calendar year. Thus, if an employee is placed on section 6329b investigative leave near the end of the calendar year due to a particular investigation, and if that same investigation continues into the new year, an authorized Commerce oﬃcial is not required to use 10 workdays of administrative leave for investigative purposes under 5 U.S.C. 6329a before resuming the use of investigative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329b in the new calendar year.

The “investigative purposes” language pertains to situations where an authorized Commerce oﬃcial places an employee (by management action not contingent on employee consent) on administrative leave in connection with an “investigation” (as deﬁned in 5 CFR 630.1502) of the employee that could lead to an adverse action or other adverse outcome.

Workforce realignment initiatives.

Supervisors may use administrative leave to support various workforce realignment initiatives, including Governmentwide and agency-speciﬁc Deferred Resignation Programs under which employees are provided administrative leave for a period of time before their deferred resignation (including a resignation that represents a separation for retirement) takes eﬀect. Use of administrative leave in connection with such programs is in the interest of Commerce and the Government as a whole, since it facilitates workforce restructuring and realignment eﬀorts that will lead to a leaner, less expensive, less wasteful, more eﬃcient, and more mission-focused Federal workforce. Authorized Commerce oﬃcials may determine that it is appropriate to use the tool of administrative leave in conjunction with a voluntary deferred resignation in combination with other tools such as voluntary separation incentive payments (VSIP) or voluntary early retirement authorizations (VERA).

Consistent with the providing of administrative leave in conjunction with the 2025 Governmentwide Deferred Resignation Program, authorized Commerce oﬃcials may consider providing administrative leave in conjunction with agency-speciﬁc initiatives as determined to be necessary to achieve agency workforce realignment objectives. This policy applies to any future Deferred Resignation Programs and the above policy may be amended as deemed necessary by Commerce to meet it workforce objects.

Approval of Administrative Leave for this purpose requires the concurrence of the Chief Human Capital Officer. Requests should be submitted by the program officer, through the appropriate Principle Human Resources Manager, to the Office of Human Resources Management.

Supervisors may also provide administrative leave during the period of time between an employee’s receipt of a notice of involuntary separation (e.g., due to a reduction in force) and the eﬀective date of that separation, if they determine such use supports agency interests.

Granting of Administrative Leave for this purpose does not require concurrence from the Office of Human Resources Management; however, program offices should report their intent to grant leave in this manner to the Office of Human Resources Management for tracking, reporting, and awareness.

Beginning in calendar year 2026, use of administrative leave by an employee in connection with a workforce realignment initiative is limited to 12 weeks in any individual instance unless a higher threshold has been jointly approved by the Oﬃce of Personnel Management and the Oﬃce of Management and Budget in a speciﬁed set of circumstances.

Geographic relocation of spouses of Deployed Individuals.

Supervisors may provide up to 5 days of administrative leave to their civilian employees accompanying a spouse who is a member of a military, uniformed, or foreign service or similar government employee during a geographic relocation occurring as directed by the service member’s orders. (See E.O. 14100 of June 9, 2023, and OPMʼs related memorandum of November 9, 2023, to agency heads.) Authorized agency oﬃcials are encouraged to provide administrative leave in this scenario.

Voting purposes.

Supervisors may provide limited amounts of administrative leave in circumstances in which an employee would otherwise have no reasonable opportunity to vote on a regular election day because of the employee’s work schedule. Such administrative leave should generally be limited to the hours required to vote and should generally not exceed 3 hours in length. Such administrative leave should be provided only to the extent it does not interfere with agency operations.

Supervisors may provide administrative leave for early voting on a scheduled workday only if it does not interfere with agency operations and if one of the following two conditions is met:

the employee will be unable to vote on the regular election day because of activities directly related to the agencyʼs mission (such as Temporary Duty (TDY) travel) and cannot vote by absentee ballot or by early voting on a nonworkday; or early voting hours are the same as, or exceed, voting hours on the regular election day.

See guidance on administrative leave for voting in the OPM Fact Sheet: Administrative Leave.

Blood donation.

Supervisors may provide administrative leave, typically up to 4 hours, to an employee who donates blood during the employee’s tour of duty.

Authorized Commerce Uses

The following uses of administrative leave in this section can be approved for employees by their supervisors without further approval from a higher-level Commerce official. For uses outside of the examples below, the supervisor must have concurrence from a member of the Senior Executive Service who ranks above the supervisor in the supervisor’s chain of command.

Employee Assistance Program.

Supervisors may provide limited amounts of administrative leave to an employee for participation in the agencyʼs Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for problem identiﬁcation and referral to an outside resource and for general employee orientation or education activities.

Physical ﬁtness activities.

Supervisors may provide limited amounts of administrative leave for approved physical ﬁtness activities provided they do so consistent with OPM regulations on administrative leave, including consideration of the decision factors in 5 CFR 630.1403(a)(6). In providing such leave, supervisors (1) must retain the discretion to provide or not provide administrative leave based on agency judgments of mission needs and (2) may not grant the administrative leave as an entitlement without regard to mission needs. (Time spent in physical ﬁtness activities approved by an authorized agency oﬃcial for employees with mandatory ﬁtness standards is considered duty time and not administrative leave. See Appendix 2.)

Rest and recuperation.

Supervisors may provide limited amounts of administrative leave to allow an employee to rest following unusually lengthy tours of duty or extended travel for work purposes.

Early dismissal before a holiday.

Supervisors may provide a limited amount of administrative leave so that employees with a scheduled workday immediately before a holiday are allowed to end their workday early. This leave may not exceed 2 hours unless speciﬁcally approved by the Secretary. This leave must be provided as a general goodwill gesture, not as a performance award.

Volunteer activities.

Supervisors may provide limited amounts of administrative leave for approved volunteer activities, if the supervisor determines that the use of leave would satisfy one or more of the four guiding principles. Supervisors must balance support for employees’ volunteer activities with the need to ensure that employees’ work requirements are fulﬁlled and that agency operations are conducted eﬃciently and eﬀectively. For more information, see OPM Fact Sheet: Participation in Volunteer Activities.

Tardiness.

Supervisors may provide brief periods of administrative leave to employees who arrive after their scheduled start time for adequate reasons. However, supervisors must consider whether other actions are more appropriate given the circumstances. For example, a supervisor may determine that a tardy employee should be placed in absence without leave (AWOL) status for a period of absence that has not been approved. Notation of the absence as AWOL is not a disciplinary action in and of itself, but an incidence of AWOL could be the basis for taking disciplinary action. Alternatively, a supervisor may decide to retroactively approve the employee’s use of leave without pay or available annual leave or other paid time oﬀ, as appropriate, to cover the absence. An employee on a ﬂexible work schedule with ﬂexibility to adjust start and stop times who arrives later than the employee’s normal start time may not be considered tardy (unless the employee arrives during core hours) and would normally be expected to extend his/her stop time to cover the time not worked due to the later arrival time or use annual leave or other available paid time oﬀ.

Attendance at a professional organization meeting.

Supervisors may provide administrative leave for employees who pay their own expenses to attend a meeting of a professional association or other organization from which an agency could derive some beneﬁt, as described in 5 CFR 251.202(a)(3).

Exams.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for exams that are directly related to an employee’s duties, such as the CPA exam or bar exam.

Civil Defense Pre-Emergency Training Programs.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for 40 hours a year for an employee to participate in training, tests, or drills at the request of state or local civil defense authorities. For absences longer than 8 hours, an employee will need to provide certification from a responsible local official confirming participation.

Civic, Patriotic, or Community Activities.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for civic or patriotic activities that are sanctioned by Commerce or the White House. Examples include: viewing a parade, welcoming dignitaries, or other public ceremonies.

Removal or Suspension.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave if an employee’s proposed removal or suspension may constitute a threat to public property or the health and safety of coworkers and/or the public if the employee remains in the workplace. Supervisors may only approve such leave with the concurrence of the Office of General Counsel and appropriate Human Resources staff.

Reduction in Force.

If not granted leave under the workforce restructuring authority above, supervisors may approve administrative leave for an employee who has received a Reduction in Force (RIF) or similar notice in order to allow the employee to interview for other jobs within Commerce, the Federal government, or an outside organization where no potential conflict of interest is present.

Medical Exams.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave if an employee is required to have a medical examination in connection with the employee’s job.

Workplace Injuries.

Supervisors must approve administrative leave for immediate treatment and disability from work for the balance of the workday if an employee is injured on the job after their work day has started. If an employee is stationed outside of the U.S and local treatment is not available, the employee can be granted administrative leave for whatever period is required for travel to and from the nearest medical facility for necessary treatment.

Illness at Work.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for up to one hour for consultation and treatment for employees who become ill at work. In addition, administrative leave may be approved for up to one hour per day if a physician advises rest or treatment and the employee is able to work.

Organ Donations.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for up to 30 days for an employee who donates an organ. In instances of a bone marrow donation, an employee may be given 7 days of administrative leave.

Health and Fitness.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for health and fitness activities if those activities are sanctioned by the agency, are of a short duration, and the supervisor believes the employee’s participation will benefit Commerce.

Moving Arrangement Due to Change in Duty Stations.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for an employee who changes duty stations under a management directive and the new duty station is more than 100 miles from the previous duty station. An employee may be approved for up to 16 hours prior to or during the move, and 8 hours upon arrival.

Rest After Travel.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for an employee who is required to travel on government business for more than 14 hours, crossing multiple time zones and using non-premium accommodations. An employee may be granted administrative leave for the day following the travel.

Transition Leave.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for a non-career civil service employee at an overseas post who is returning from abroad and is exercising their reemployment rights. An employee may be granted up to 10 working days of administrative leave.

Conferences.

Supervisors may approve administrative leave for an employee to attend conventions, conferences, or meeting that are not directly related to the employee’s duties if it is determined the employee’s participation will contribute to the goals of Commerce.

Settlements, court orders, backpay, and similar situations.

When required by an appropriate authority to compensate an employee, supervisors may approve administrative leave in collaboration with the Office of General Counsel and appropriate Human Resources Staff. In these circumstances, normal limitations on the use of administrative leave and the value/hourly rate of such leave do not apply.

Other use.

Supervisors may approve a use not speciﬁcally approved in this agency policy if (1) no prohibition applies, (2) the supervisors receive concurrence from a member of the Senior Executive Service or similar executive who ranks above the supervisor in the supervisor’s chain of command.

Inappropriate Uses

This section identiﬁes selected examples of inappropriate uses of administrative leave. It does not attempt to make a comprehensive list. Examples are categorized as Governmentwide prohibitions/limitations (based on OPM regulations or policies) or as agency-speciﬁc prohibitions/limitations.

Governmentwide prohibitions/limitations

Marking memory of deceased oﬃcial.

Administrative leave may not be used to mark the memory of a deceased former Federal oﬃcial. (See 5 CFR 630.1403(b)(1) and 5 U.S.C. 6105.)

Reward for performance.

Administrative leave may not be used as a reward to recognize the performance or contributions of an employee or group of employees (i.e., in lieu of a cash award or a time-oﬀ award, such as authorized under 5 U.S.C. 4502(e) and 5 CFR 451.104(a) and (f )). However, subject to delegations of authority, the head of a Commerce operating unit may grant administrative leave to all employees of an organization as a morale- boosting special goodwill gesture, even if it is broadly linked to the accomplishments of the organization. Such a universal granting of administrative leave to all employees of an organization is not a performance- or contributions-based award to which this prohibition applies.

Limited use for voting purposes.

Administrative leave may be used to allow an employee a reasonable opportunity to vote in an election only to the extent permitted under section Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses.

Poll workers.

Administrative leave may not be used to cover service by poll workers or poll observers in connection with elections, whether that service is partisan or nonpartisan, paid or unpaid. However, supervisors, with approval from a member of the Senior Executive who ranks higher in the supervisor’s chain of command, may approve other available workforce ﬂexibilities to allow employees to serve as poll workers or poll observers, such as annual leave, compensatory time oﬀ earned via overtime work, compensatory time oﬀ for travel, credit hours under a ﬂexible work schedule, adjustment of working hours under a ﬂexible work schedule, or leave without pay.

Sick leave purposes.

Administrative leave should not be used for the purpose of excusing an employee from duty for a reason for which sick leave could be used (5 CFR 630.401(a))—unless such use in a particular scenario is speciﬁcally approved by Governmentwide policy or in the Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses sections of this policy. (By Presidential directive, certain employees with less than 80 hours of accrued sick leave are entitled each year to up to 4 hours of excused absence— not agency-authorized section 6329a administrative leave—for participation in preventive health screenings.) However, an employee who is eligible to use sick leave may be granted administrative leave on the same basis it is granted to an employee who is not so eligible when the administrative leave is granted for some other purpose.

Agency prohibitions/limitations

Limitation on use for early dismissal before holiday.

When a determination is made to grant administrative leave on the workday immediately preceding a Federal paid holiday for employees of an organization as a goodwill gesture, no more than 2 hours of such administrative leave may be granted in total (e.g. this 2-hour limit is cumulative.)

Employees may be permitted to combine early dismissal administrative leave with other forms of leave provided that the employee has performed a minimum of 1 hour of work that day.

For employees working a flexible schedule, the employee must have been scheduled/have planned to work at least 3 hours on the day of the dismissal, resulting in a minimum of 1 hour of work prior to receiving the administrative leave.

Administration of Administrative Leave

Applicable to hours within tour of duty

Administrative leave is provided only to excuse an employee from duty during hours within an employee’s tour of duty established for charging annual and sick leave when absent. For full- time employees, that tour is the 40-hour “basic workweek” as deﬁned in 5 CFR 610.102, the “basic work requirement” established for employees on a ﬂexible or compressed work schedule as deﬁned in 5 U.S.C. 6121(3), or an uncommon tour of duty under 5 CFR 630.210.

Partial-hour increment

The same minimum charge increment is used for administrative leave as is used for annual and sick leave under 5 CFR 630.206 (e.g. 15-minute increments).

Pay during administrative leave

The pay an employee receives when using administrative leave is the same pay an employee receives during annual leave, except that night pay for regularly scheduled nightwork that occurs during hours of administrative leave, and that would be payable if the employee performed work, is payable without regard to the 8-hour rule in 5 CFR 550.122(b). For employees whose regular tour of duty includes Sunday, Sunday premium pay may not be paid during a period of paid leave, including administrative leave. (See section 624 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1999, Pub. L. 105-277, div. A, § 101(h), 112 Stat. 2681-518 (Oct. 21, 1998).)

Service credit

Time in administrative leave status is creditable service for all purposes.

Application of 10-workday annual limit for investigative purposes

Conversion to hours.

The 10-workday calendar year limit on administrative leave for investigative purposes must be converted to hours based on the employeeʼs established work schedule (5 CFR 630.1404(b)). For full-time employees with a 40-hour basic workweek or an 80-hourly biweekly basic work requirement, the 10-workday limit is converted to an 80-hour limit. For part-time employees, the calendar year limit is prorated based on the number of hours in the employeeʼs established part-time schedule. For example, a part-time employee who has a 40-hour biweekly (half-time) tour of duty would have a limit of 40 hours (half of 80 hours). For employees with an uncommon tour of duty, 80 hours would be proportionally increased based on the number of hours in the uncommon tour relative to the hours in a regular full-time tour. For example, for an employee with an uncommon tour of 72 hours per week or 144 hours per biweekly pay period, the 80-hour limit would be converted to 144 hours (144/80 x 80). For employees who have more than one type of work schedule during a calendar year, follow the rule in 5 CFR 630.1404(b)(4).

Resetting balance on January 1.

The 10-workday annual limit applies on a calendar year basis (January 1-December 31). Thus, the balance of administrative leave hours used resets at zero on January 1, even if there is a continuation of an investigation requiring administrative leave. For example, if an employee was placed on administrative leave for investigative purposes on December 27-31, that time would not count towards the 10-workday annual limit for the following year, even if the same investigation continued into January. The employee would need to be placed on administrative leave for 10 workdays in the new calendar year before placement on investigative leave under 5 U.S.C. 6329b (if appropriate).

Move to another agency.

If an employee moves to another agency, the balance of administrative leave hours used resets at zero at the new agency, since the 10-workday annual limit applies separately to each agency that may employ an employee during a calendar year. Use by diﬀerent employing agencies is not aggregated. (For the purpose of applying the 10-workday annual limit, the term “agency” has the same meaning as an “Executive agency” as deﬁned in 5 U.S.C. 105, which includes Executive departments, Government corporations, and independent establishments. Thus, if an employee moves to another position within Commerce, the balance of leave hours used does not reset.)

Records and reports

By law, use of administrative leave authorized under 5 U.S.C. 6329a must be recorded in timekeeping and payroll systems as a stand-alone category of leave, separately from any other leave (5 U.S.C. 6329a(b)(2)).

Administrative leave must be reported to OPMʼs Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) database (5 CFR 630.1406(c)).

Administrative leave must be recorded and reported in one of two subcategories:

administrative leave for investigative purposes or

administrative leave for all other purposes.

The EHRI data elements are named “Administrative Leave Hours Used (Investigative Purposes) – 5 USC 6329a” and “Administrative Leave Hours Used (General) – 5 USC 6329a”. Hours used are reported to EHRI on a biweekly pay period basis.

Employees, managers certifying employee time and attendance, and other individuals with timekeeping responsibilities are responsible for properly recording and reporting all uses of administrative leave so that agency use of the administrative leave authority may be evaluated.

Supervisors and employees should consult their servicing human resources offices for using the appropriate code to record administrative leave in GovTA.

Responsibilities of Commerce Supervisors/Managers and Employees

Supervisors and managers

Supervisors at Commerce are responsible for ensuring Government resources are used eﬃciently and eﬀectively, with minimum potential for waste, fraud, and mismanagement. They are responsible for administering leave programs, including the administrative leave program, with integrity and in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies. A supervisor is accountable for—

administering and counseling an employee on leave rules, regulations, and procedures in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies;

reviewing, approving, validating, and certifying the accuracy of oﬃcial time and

attendance records for their employees;

ensuring that an employee submits appropriate documentation for absences, as required;

retaining records as required by applicable records management policies;

identifying, investigating, and correcting leave errors and abuse; and

keeping higher levels of management aware of any systemic issues that may require broader action.

Employees

A Commerce employee’s responsibilities in connection with the use of leave (including administrative leave) include—

observing designated duty hours, complying with both leave and hours of duty rules, regulations, and established business procedures, and requesting and using leave in accordance with its intended purpose;

accurately reporting their hours of work, leave taken, and other required information in oﬃcial time and attendance records;

providing appropriate documentation concerning absences, as required by established policies; and

contacting management for assistance with any problems relating to time and attendance recording or validation.

Appendix 1:  Commerce Delegations of Authority Related to Administrative Leave 

In general, as indicated in sections Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses, administrative leave may be approved by supervisors. 

For instances of administrative leave not covered by sections Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses of this policy, the following approval procedures will apply: 

Supervisors must receive concurrence from a member of the Senior Executive Service above them in their chain of command; or alternatively

Heads of Operating Units (Bureaus) and Directors of Secretarial Offices within Commerce may designate approving officials for such circumstances; however, the designated approval official MUST be above the supervisor’s chain of command.

In addition, Heads of Operating Units (Bureaus) and Directors of Secretarial Offices may develop policies that add appropriate circumstances for the use of administrative leave not covered by sections Authorized Governmentwide Uses or Authorized Commerce Uses such additions must not be prohibited by law, and must be consistent with this policy.  

Appendix 2: Duty Time Examples 

The following are examples of duty time during which administrative leave will not be applied: 

Physical ﬁtness activities for Commerce employees with mandatory ﬁtness standards (such as law enforcement oﬃcers and ﬁreﬁghters). (See 64 Comp. Gen. 835, 840-844; also GAO report B-245860, May 7, 1992.)

Training time covered by 5 U.S.C. chapter 41. (See 5 U.S.C. 4109(a)(1). Note that a Commerce employee may also receive pay under section 4109(a)(1) for time spent in connection with a meeting covered by 5 U.S.C. 4110. See also 5 CFR 251.202(a)(2).)

Short rest periods during the workday (e.g., 15 minutes) as allowed under title 5 and the Fair Labor Standards Act and agency policies. (See 5 CFR 551.411(b) and Comp. Gen. B-166304, April 7, 1969.)

Attendance at a conference (1) for Commerce-approved training, (2) as an oﬃcial Commerce representative, or (3) that is directed by Commerce to support its mission.

Union oﬃcial time under 5 U.S.C. 7131.

Authorized work in support of the Commerce’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) activities during normal work hours. (Note: Section 618(a) of Public Law 100-202, December 22, 1987, provides that CFC activities are covered by appropriations. That law also gave OPM authority to issue regulations and conduct oversight. OPM regulations require that CFC campaigns be conducted/supported at every Federal agency. See 5 CFR 950.102(a), (e), and 950.105(a).)

Management-approved team-building activity (e.g., gathering of employees for holiday social activity or retirement farewell).

Time taken by employee to complete a Government-sponsored survey such as the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

Management-approved group Employee Assistance Program session(s) focused on a work- related traumatic event, working through internal group conﬂict, death of a colleague, or a similar situation.

Participation in any Commerce annual awards ceremony.  This includes awards ceremonies at the bureau level.

Participation in Commerce-sponsored events in connection with a Commerce-sponsored recognition. This also includes certain Governmentwide events such as limited time for Public Service Recognition Week.

Time spent attending a trial by a Commerce employee who prevails in a discrimination action ﬁled against the employee's agency in federal court. (See 59 Comp. Gen. 290 (1980); Comp. Gen. B-201602, April 1, 1981.)

Time during normal working hours spent by a Commerce employee on oﬃcial travel for house- hunting purposes (5 U.S.C. 5724a). (See 41 CFR 302-5.17 and also Comp. Gen. B-203196, Feb. 3, 1982.)

Time during regular work hours a Commerce employee spends being interviewed as part of a background investigation of another Federal employee (subject to supervisory approval).

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