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OPM's final rule lets agencies provide paid administrative leave during RIF notice periods and deferred-resignation transitions, and names accepted benefits a valid reason to decline a resignation withdrawal

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The Office of Personnel Management's final rule, published October 19, lets an agency provide administrative leave during a reduction-in-force notice period and to employees who sign a written agreement to voluntarily separate on a specified future date. It also adds an employee's acceptance of deferred-resignation benefits to the nonexclusive list of valid reasons an agency may decline a resignation withdrawal. OPM says it received 30 comments. The rule takes effect November 18, 2026.

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The Office of Personnel Management has issued a final rule on administrative leave for federal employees in workforce realignments, including reductions in force and deferred resignation programs. It was published in the Federal Register on October 19, 2026 and takes effect November 18, 2026.

What changes

The rule amends 5 CFR part 630, subpart N (administrative leave), 5 CFR 351.806 (status during a reduction-in-force notice period) and 5 CFR 715.202 (resignations). A new § 630.1403(c)(8) covers "limited amounts of administrative leave for approved physical fitness activities" on a conditional basis, for employees who do not have job-related mandatory fitness standards that allow for use of official duty time for such activities; the examples OPM proposed as (c)(8) through (c)(10) are redesignated (c)(9) through (c)(11).

Redesignated § 630.1403(c)(9) lists extended periods of administrative leave — subject to Governmentwide limits established by OPM and agency limits — for employees who sign a written agreement to voluntarily separate on a specified future date, as a transition-to-separation tool that supports workforce restructuring and realignment initiatives that are based on agency and Governmentwide interests, including voluntary deferred resignation programs, use of voluntary separation incentive payments or use of voluntary early retirement authorizations. Paragraph (c)(10) covers employees subject to an involuntary separation via a reduction in force, during the period between receipt of the RIF notice and the RIF separation, when the agency determines it is in the Government's best interests.

Revised § 351.806(a) provides that "[u]nder ordinary circumstances, an employee will remain in a duty status during the notice period." That replaces the earlier "when possible" language. A new paragraph (b) says nothing in the section precludes an agency from placing an employee on administrative leave for all or part of the notice period when the agency determines that such leave is appropriate and the use of administrative leave is consistent with part 630, subpart N.

Revised § 715.202(b) lets an agency, "in its sole and exclusive discretion," accept or decline a request to withdraw a resignation at any time before it has become effective, and keeps the rule that an agency may decline such a request before its effective date only when it has a valid reason and explains that reason to the employee. It adds the employee's acceptance of benefits provided under a deferred resignation agreement to the nonexclusive list of valid reasons. Avoidance of adverse action proceedings is still not a valid reason.

The comments OPM received

OPM says it received 30 comments during the 30-day comment period on its June 29, 2026 proposal (91 FR 39032): from multiple individuals, one agency, two unions and three employee advocacy groups. Commenters who opposed codifying deferred-resignation leave as an acceptable use argued that using administrative leave for workforce restructuring circumvents the reduction-in-force procedures in 5 CFR part 351, and that voluntary early retirement and separation-incentive authorities already provide bounded, accountable mechanisms with statutory caps. OPM responds that the rule does not waive, suspend or displace any requirement of part 351, that retention registers, retention standing, veterans' preference and all other RIF requirements continue to apply in full to any involuntary RIF separation, and that the rule does not require an agency to provide administrative leave in any workforce realignment scenario.

Comments on physical fitness were generally favorable and OPM added that example, setting no minimum or maximum number of hours; the agency that commented opposed adding it. OPM declined to add an example allowing general use of administrative leave for activities related to an employee's move to a different permanent duty station, declined a recommendation to limit deferred-resignation leave to 10 days unless the employee is retirement eligible, and declined to remove the "sole and exclusive discretion" language, adding a definition of the term to § 630.1402 instead. It substituted "and" for "or" in the limits phrase in (c)(9) and (c)(11) to clarify that agency limits cannot supersede Governmentwide limits, and declined to reopen or extend the comment period.

The dates

The rule's DATES paragraph reads: "This rule is effective November 18, 2026." That is an effective date, not a comment deadline: the comment period on the June 29, 2026 proposal has closed and the rule prints no new one. November 18, 2026 is a Wednesday, 30 days after the October 19 publication date.

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