Federal agencies that reorganize can keep an employee on paid administrative leave for no more than 12 weeks in any single workforce realignment, unless the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget jointly approve more. The rule that locks that in takes effect November 18, 2026. A separate 10-workday yearly limit covers administrative leave used for investigations.
OPM published the final rule, titled “Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes,” in the Federal Register on October 19, 2026. It states plainly that “this rule is effective November 18, 2026,” and it follows a proposal OPM published on June 29. The rule runs 17 pages in the Federal Register, amends parts of Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and lists Bryce Baker at (202) 606-2858 as the OPM contact. It applies only to federal agencies and federal employees.
How long paid leave can last during a reorganization
For a federal worker whose agency is cutting, merging or reshuffling jobs, the question is how long the paycheck keeps coming while nothing is assigned. The answer in the rule is 12 weeks for an individual instance of a workforce realignment, a limit the preamble says applies beginning in calendar year 2026.
The number itself is not new. OPM put it in a July 30, 2025 memo, CPM 2025-12, signed by Associate Director Veronica E. Hinton. It told agencies that use of administrative leave in a workforce realignment is “limited to 12 weeks in any individual instance.” The same template says the separate 10-workday limit runs January 1 through December 31, resets each January, and is counted by each agency on its own.
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What the October rule adds is force. The preamble changes the wording so that agency limits cannot override the governmentwide ones, so a longer agency limit no longer overrides the governmentwide one.
The 10-workday limit is a different clock
The 10 workdays are not a second helping of leave on top of the 12 weeks. That figure comes from a 2016 law, section 6329a of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, and it limits how much administrative leave an agency can use while it looks into an employee’s conduct, according to OPM’s June proposal, which was approved by Director Scott Kupor.
Once an agency reaches the limit, new section 630.1403(b)(3) bars more administrative leave for an investigation. Investigations then move to a different kind of leave, investigative leave, which the statute allows only while an investigation is ongoing and only after the 10 workdays are used up.
Notice leave is the third kind. It is available only after an agency has proposed an adverse action against an employee. The 12-week cap is tied to workforce realignment alone.
Where agencies still have room
The 12 weeks is a ceiling with a door in it. The rule says a higher threshold can be used if OPM and OMB jointly approve it, and the preamble notes that a six-month threshold was later approved for deferred resignation agreements tied to workforce restructuring in fiscal 2026.
Deferred resignation programs are agreements in which an employee signs a written promise to leave on a set future date, who may stay on paid leave until then. The final rule makes leave for those programs an acceptable use, and it adds acceptance of the benefits to the reasons an agency may deny a request to withdraw a resignation.
Employees who get a reduction-in-force notice are treated differently. The rule says that under ordinary circumstances they stay in duty status during the notice period, though an agency may still provide administrative leave for all or part of that time.
Settlement agreements are a fourth route. The rule lets an agency use leave under a settlement it finds in the government’s best interests, as long as allegations of poor performance or misconduct are documented, and that leave sits outside investigative and notice leave. Nothing in the rule reaches private employers, which have no such limits under it.
What the rule did not settle
Thirty comments came in during the 30-day comment period, including from two unions and three employee advocacy groups. Some commenters pointed to public reporting that put the cost of 2025 deferred resignation programs at about $11 billion, while OPM said one-time administrative leave costs are less than 3 percent of total basic payroll. OPM said a look back at the 2025 programs is outside this rule.
OPM made limited changes after the comments, adding physical fitness as an acceptable use of administrative leave and defining the agency’s “sole and exclusive discretion.” The rule also bars administrative leave for poll worker service, keeps early dismissals before holidays to about two hours unless the agency head approves more, and says employees should stay in duty status during most notice periods. The 12-week figure comes from OPM’s 2025 template, and OPM did not explain why it chose 12, FEDweek reported at the time.
For questions about a particular job, OPM says each agency is responsible for complying with the law and OPM’s governmentwide regulations, and that agency policies and union contracts may also apply, according to its leave administration page.
Planning around a 12-week leave limit in a federal household?
Twelve weeks of paid leave is a firm planning number for a household, and the date it runs out can arrive before a new job or a final pay decision does. Income that drops while bills stay put is when programs with income limits start to matter, and many of them need an application well before help begins.
The Benefits Checklist is the closest match for that turn. It scans 11 benefit programs that retirees and older households most often miss, with the 2026 income limits for each, a 50-state phone directory and a printable application tracker that comes with the download.
More Financial Reading
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- 15 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
