But, when that reduction-in-force (RIF) was blocked by the courts and the Education Department was forced to retain and continue paying these staff, the department prohibited them from returning to work.
For nearly nine months, from March 21 to mid-December, “there were 247 people on administrative leave from OCR who were being paid while not being allowed to work,” says Jackie Nowicki, lead investigator of K-12 issues at GAO, “and that decision came with a cost.”
A cost of between $28.5 million and $38 million, according to GAO.