Since early 2020, taxpayers have funded more than $9 million in wages for state employees on paid leave while under investigation for alleged misconduct, state records show.
And as of Dec. 12, the cost of paid investigative leave has increased 60% this year, from $1.64 million in 2023 to $2.62 million, according to Vermont Department of Human Resources records obtained through a public records request. Employees at the state Department of Correctional Services account for more than half of those on investigative leave.
“We certainly hope that the number we see in 2024 is not the trend going forward,” Personnel Commissioner Beth Fastiggi said in an interview. “This year is definitely — hopefully — an anomaly.”
A person can be placed on paid leave after an allegation that they have violated state employment rules, such as by engaging in harassment or discrimination. About half of misconduct investigations result in temporary paid dismissal, according to state data.
Paid investigative leave for government employees has been noticed press and investigators in the past, including State Auditor Doug Hoffer.
“Not only is there a cost, but you create a burden on your colleagues who have to fill in for you, because you’re not there,” Hoffer said, describing the problems caused by extensive paid leave. While wages paid by the state have topped $2.6 million this year, additional benefits such as health care add significantly to the total cost.
The data suggests that many investigations find allegations unfounded, and that very few lead to dismissal. Still, the total hours of paid investigative leave — more than 86,000 as of mid-December, or about 16 weeks per employee on investigative leave — suggest that employees regularly spend months getting paid to sit at home.
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Hoffer’s office reviewed paid leave for state employees in misconduct investigations about eight years ago. He said he was disappointed that since then there appeared to be little legislative appetite to address the phenomenon.
“I found it frustrating, to be very honest, that the legislature didn’t seem very interested,” he said.
Temporary relief from duty can end in a variety of ways. An employee may be reprimanded or suspended. They could reach a negotiated agreement with the state. Or, as has occurred in a number of cases in recent years, the investigation may determine that the alleged misconduct is unfounded.
Fastiggi said she has never seen her department conduct as many investigations as it has this year. Part of the increase comes from a June 2023 changed policy which expanded the types of incidents supervisors must report from harassment and discrimination to include all forms of alleged misconduct.
The data shows that the total number of misconduct – not all of which lead to paid time off – has increased steadily since 2020 but even faster since June 2023, following the update of the personnel policy.
Personnel investigations involve interviews with witnesses, the complainant and the person who allegedly committed the misconduct, Fastiggi said. Staff review emails and other documents, culminating in a report with recommendations. Ultimately, the agency or department’s “appointing authority” — a commissioner, a secretary, or their designee — decides how or if an employee should be reprimanded.
The state Human Resources Department has an investigation team of six, according to Fastiggi, with about 30 “field personnel” who can also assist in misconduct investigations.
When serious discipline is being considered—demotion, suspension, or termination—the employee is given written notice and an opportunity to meet with the appointing authority of his or her department or agency. Additionally, employees have the opportunity to appeal their penalties and eventually cases can reach the Vermont Labor Relations Board.
Data from the Department of Human Resources indicates that the increase in the cost of paid leave is driven more by the length of leave than the number of employees on leave, although both have increased.
As has long been the case, the Department of Corrections has the highest number of furloughed employees at the greatest total cost, with 73 employees on investigation furlough at various times this year. That’s 7.9% of the department’s total employees, and their investigative leave wages cost more than $1.35 million as of Dec. 12.
The Vermont Veterans’ Home, which has had 11 employees on investigative leave this year, has nearly identical paid leave to the Department of Corrections, at 7.9% of the staff there, according to state administrative agency employee counts.
Hoffer, the state auditor, discovered similar trends in his 2017 reports.
Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, said the biggest complaint he hears about investigative leave is the length of the process, which he called a “morale killer.”
“They want the investigation done as soon as possible,” Howard said of his union members.
In some cases, Howard said, employees remain on leave even after the investigations are complete. Resolving conflicts directly between an employee and manager can speed up the process and can prevent the conflict from escalating, according to Howard, an improvement over the centralized HR system currently in place.
Given staff shortages across state government, Mr Howard said it was management’s duty to resolve investigations quickly. That’s especially true for corrections staff, Howard said, who are especially overworked.
“They are under very strict, perhaps undue, scrutiny because they are in one of the most difficult, challenging jobs in all of state government,” he said.
And while Howard was not aware of this year’s increase in investigative leave, he said he had heard from union members that the Department of Human Resources was becoming “very aggressive in terms of discipline.”
Fastiggi, the human resources commissioner, said paid leave during misconduct investigations is more likely to be used for state employees who have “direct impact on a client,” such as employees at veterans’ homes or correctional officers, rather than for state employees who are working remotely.
While the Department of Human Resources did not provide data on the average length of an investigation, the total number of investigations and total hours suggest an average of about 640 hours per furloughed employee in 2024 — equal to 80 days, or 16 weeks of work. That’s an increase from about 63 days in 2023.
The length of investigations is increasing slightly faster than the total number of paid leave investigations, which increased from 113 in 2023 to 135 in mid-December 2024.
As of Dec. 12 of this year, 68 investigations involving paid leave had been resolved in 2024, according to the department. Of these, 25 resulted in unsubstantiated findings, 19 led to feedback from supervision, and three fell under the “termination/involuntary” category. Other decisions included suspensions, verbal reprimands, and settled agreements (six instances) — negotiated resolutions between employers and employees.
Former Human Services Secretary Mike Smith tried to do away with stipulated contracts within his agency’s departments around 2020. They have since been used with much less frequency, the data show.
Fastiggi did not point to a single factor behind 2024’s rising cost. She noted that the Department of Corrections was “driving” the number of employees on paid leave and that both the overall volume and length of investigations were likely factors.
But investigations take time, and the more serious allegations take longer to investigate and judge, according to Fastiggi.
“We want to make sure all employees have due process, as well as make sure we have safe workplaces for our employees,” she said.
