In his Law360 article “Paid Administrative Leave: There Ought To Be A Law,” Partner Gregory Rolen discusses how paid administrative leave (PAL) in California is becoming a means to not only shortcut public employees’ workplace rights, but also to destroy reputations.
In 2013, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report which concluded that between the fiscal years 2011 and 2013, at least 263 employees were placed on PAL for one to three years, costing the American taxpayers approximately $3.1 billion for employees who were forbidden to work.
Rolen writes, “The committee report predictably found that employees were placed on PAL without providing justification, stating that many agencies failed to articulate how employees posed any threat whatsoever [and] that because PAL was not appealable, it was used by agencies to retaliate against whistleblowers. An employee may wait for years while their career languishes because the agencies take no action.”
“While the financial cost is palpable, the human cost is insidious. Employees understand the PAL is often a one-way ticket to unemployment,” Rolen adds. “In extreme circumstances, unscrupulous individuals need do little else than place someone on PAL to marginalize a personal, political or professional adversary. All of this with no statutory authority, regulation or transparency.”