Waste of the Day: DHS Employees Could Work Four Days Per Week

Topline: Alejandro Mayorkas, head of the Department of Homeland Security under Joe Biden, was so generous with paid time off that t-shirts and collectible coins have declared him the “patron saint of administrative leave.”

Homeland Security employees got billions of dollars’ worth of paid time off

During his four years, Mayorkas gave his employees more than six weeks in vacation time, at a cost to taxpayers of $3 billion, according to records reviewed by the Washington Times.

Key facts: All federal employees get 13 sick days and 11 paid holidays per year. They also receive 13 to 26 days of annual leave, depending on how many years they’ve been working.

Agency chiefs can also award up to 10 days of administrative leave per year, a practice Mayorkas used to its fullest. He gave each member of Homeland Security 269 hours of administrative leave while in office, which the Washington Times says is “likely a record for a single administration.”

Mayorkas gave his staff six days of administrative leave in 2021; another six days in 2022; nine days in 2023; and the maximum 10 days in 2024.

A few days before leaving office, he awarded three days to be used in 2025.

A Homeland Security employee could have potentially taken 60 paid days off in 2024, using their sick time, vacation time, paid leave and administrative leave. That would be the equivalent of working less than four days per week for the entire year.

A bookkeeping nightmare

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Critical quote: One manager in Homeland Security told the Washington Times the administrative leave “creates a bookkeeping nightmare” because it is difficult to track. Sometimes, “the department must trust employees and hope they aren’t abusing the system,” he said.

Summary: Between excessive paid time off and the 94 percent of federal employees that work remotely at least part of the time, it’s fair to wonder if Washington officials are spending too much time relaxing on taxpayers’ dime.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RCI and made available via RealClearWire.