<p><span class="pb-byline">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/lisa-rein"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">Lisa Rein</span></span></a></span> <span class="pb-timestamp">October 20 at 12:32 PM</span> <span class="pb-tool email"><a href="mailto:reinl@washpost.com?subject=Reader feedback for 'Thousands of federal workers on extended paid leave'"></a></span></p>
<p>Tens of thousands of federal workers are being kept on <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">paid leave</span></span> for at least a month — and often for longer stretches that can reach a year or more — while they wait to be punished for misbehavior or cleared and allowed to return to work, government records show.</p>
<p>During a three-year period that ended last fall, more than 57,000 employees were sent home for a month or longer. The tab for these workers exceeded $775 million in salary alone.  <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/thousands-of-federal-workers-on-extended-paid-leave/2014/10/20/c1c963bc-53e3-11e4-ba4b-f6333e2c0453_story.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><strong>MORE</strong></span></a></p>