Proposed Rules - Federal Register - Vol. 91, No. 123 - Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kurz

The Office of Personnel Management proposes amendments to regulations governing administrative leave and resignations. The proposal expands clarity on appropriate uses of administrative leave, including use tied to deferred resignation programs and other workforce realignment initiatives. It also revises 5 CFR 715.202 to explain when agencies may accept or deny withdrawal requests for resignations, including when employees receive benefits under deferred resignation agreements.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Office of Personnel Management

Proposed rule summary

Dates and comment submission

Background and summary

Proposed changes to administrative leave regulations

Resignations provisions

Proposed Rules Federal Register Vol. 91, No. 123 Monday, June 29, 2026 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Parts 351, 630 and 715 [Docket ID: OPM–2026–0397] RIN 3206–AP07 Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to amend its regulations to more fully address the appropriate uses of administrative leave, including use in connection with deferred resignation programs and other workforce realignment initiatives, and for other purposes. OPM is also proposing to amend its regulation on resignations to clarify when an agency may accept or deny an employee’s request to withdraw a resignation in the context of a deferred resignation program. DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 29, 2026. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at [www.regulations.gov](www.regulations.gov. Follow the)[. Follow the](www.regulations.gov. Follow the)[ ](www.regulations.gov. Follow the)[instructions for submitting comments.](instructions for submitting comments.) Please arrange and identify your comments on the regulatory text by subpart and section number. If your comments relate to the supplementary information, please reference the heading and page number in the supplementary section. All comments must be received by the end of the comment period for them to be considered. All comments and other submissions received generally will be posted on the internet at [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[regulations.gov](regulations.gov), without change, including any personal information provided. However, OPM retains discretion to redact personal or sensitive information from comments before they are posted. As required by 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a summary of this rule may be found in the docket for this rulemaking at [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[www.regulations.gov](www.regulations.gov). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryce Baker by telephone at (202) 606– 2858 or by email at leavepolicy@ [opm.gov](opm.gov). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed regulations to amend its regulations on administrative leave in 5 CFR part 351, subpart H and part 630, subpart N, and on resignations in 5 CFR 715.202. Background and Summary On December 17, 2024, OPM issued final regulations on administrative leave that added a new subpart N in 5 CFR part 630 (80 FR 102256) . The regulations in subpart N govern use of administrative leave authorized for Federal employees under 5 U.S.C. 6329a, which was enacted as part of the Administrative Leave Act of 2016 (section 1138 of Public Law 114–328, December 23, 2016) . OPM has identified the need to clarify certain matters in the regulations. For example, these proposed regulations provide additional information on unacceptable and acceptable uses of administrative leave. In particular, the proposed regulations add a list of specific examples of acceptable uses, including use in connection with deferred resignation programs 1 and other workforce restructuring initiatives. The proposed regulations are largely codifying existing OPM policies on administrative leave. The primary OPM policy documents area ‘‘Fact Sheet: Administrative Leave’’and an OPM memorandum to agency Chief Human Capital Officers entitled‘‘Template for Agency Administrative Leave Policies’’(CPM 2025–12, July 30, 2025) (‘‘Agency Policy Template’’) .2 The 1 See the following OPM memoranda on the 2025 Governmentwide deferred resignation program available at [https://www.opm.gov/chcoc/published](https://www.opm.gov/chcoc/publish

FAQs

What administrative leave changes does OPM propose?

OPM proposes amendments to better address appropriate uses of administrative leave, including use connected with deferred resignation programs and other workforce realignment initiatives.

How does the proposal affect withdrawal of resignations?

OPM proposes to clarify that an agency has sole and exclusive discretion to accept or deny resignation withdrawal requests before the resignation becomes effective, including when deferred resignation benefits were received.

When must comments be submitted for this proposed rule?

Comments must be received on or before July 29, 2026.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kurz