The 10 day admin leave limitation does not apply here
I'm an 1102 at a non-DOD agency. Compared to what I'm seeing in comments about the DOD and VA, my agency has been remarkably efficient at developing agency-specific guidance on the deferred resignation program, promulgating the 10-page agreement with instructions on how to sign it and submit it back to our internal agency HR, and the planning around departures. We've had agency, division and office wide all-hands meetings every 2-3 days on this, and during a Q&A session this week, the 10 day admin leave question came up. So many people on Reddit, particularly here and r/fednews, have been arguing this incorrectly.
To be clear: The 10 day admin leave limit per year is only for admin leave taken for investigative purposes. Don't take it from me. Read this, from the Federal Register in 2024:
OPM agrees that the 10-workday limitation in section 6329a of the Administrative Leave Act does not apply to general uses of administrative leave, but instead was meant to apply to management-initiated actions to “place” an employee on administrative leave, with or without the employee's consent, for the purpose of investigating an employee's conduct, performance, or other reasons prompting an investigation that could lead to an adverse personnel outcome. OPM is therefore modifying this aspect of its proposed rule.
...
In sum, the best reading of the relevant 10-day provision, based on the text, structure, and legislative history, is that it applies only to agency-directed placement on administrative leave for investigative purposes, including prior to placement on investigative leave, but excluding placement on general administrative leave related to other allowable uses.
Source: https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-29139.pdf
Or read this:
5) What limitations apply to an agencyʼs use of administrative leave? The regulations limit the placement of employees on administrative leave for investigative purposes to 10 workdays in a calendar year (i.e., January 1 to December 31). The “investigative purposes” language pertains to situations where an agency places an employee (by management action not contingent on employee consent) on administrative leave in connection with an investigation of the employee that could lead to an adverse action or other adverse outcome. Otherwise, the 10-workday annual limit does not apply when an agency grants an employee administrative leave.
There is a reason that the actual union lawsuit against the deferred resignation program does not base any part of its argument on the 10 day admin leave limit that so many experts on here are quick to cite. It is objectively false to say that the 10 day limit applies to the deferred resignation program. I'm not sure if I'll take the resignation or not, but please, can we let the whole 10 day admin leave limit thing go since it really doesn't apply here and isn't even in the lawsuit? You're better than this, 1102 community. If you're going to talk about the lawsuit, at least read it and understand what the actual argument is.
Lawsuit: https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AFGE-AFLCIO-Fork-2.4.25.pdf