Legality of Deferred Resignation Program

In response to questions about the legality of the deferred resignation program, and specifically about the legality of offering federal employees many months of paid leave, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued this memorandum opining that the deferred resignation program was legal. OPM's memorandum offered the following analysis: "The decision to grant administrative leave, and for how long, lies largely within the agency’s discretion. A statute governing administrative leave, 5 U.S.C. § 6329a, states that, ‘[d]uring any calendar year, an agency may place an employee in administrative leave for a period of not more than a total of 10 work days.’ But binding regulations promulgated by OPM have interpreted that limitation to apply only to a ‘management-initiated action to put an employee in administrative leave status, with or without the employee’s consent, for the purpose of conducting an investigation.’ The ten-day rule therefore poses no bar to the extended administrative leave contemplated by the deferred resignation program. And the regulations authorize administrative leave when, as here, the ‘absence is officially sponsored or sanctioned by the agency.’”