On the Job Keeping America Secure! $2,600,000,000 man: Alejandro Mayorkas showers Department of Homeland Security with extra vacation; taxpayers pick up the tab

Monday, September 2, 2024

By Stephen Dinan 

Reprinted from The Washington Times

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has given so much extra time off to department employees that one of his agencies has had to create a new internal system to help employees keep track of it all.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said its “Leave-tracking tool” will make it easier for supervisors to see who’s using the generous time off, and for employees to monitor how much they’ve used and how much they have left.

Employees call Mr. Mayorkas the “patron saint of administrative leave” — or just Saint Ali, for short — in recognition of his extravagant promises of extra time off beyond what employees are entitled to. In 2023, he doled out nine full additional vacation days to each employee, and he is on track for 10 this year.

The department says it’s a reward for employees doing tough jobs well amid trying circumstances.

Critics say he’s trying to buy the affection of employees who he put into those tough circumstances, particularly when it comes to the department’s tens of thousands of immigration employees.

“This is all political and it’s all for show,” said Emilio Gonzalez, who ran USCIS in the Bush administration. “It’s to address the stress, not the underlying problem.”

Mr. Mayorkas’ latest grant came last week, when he said employees could take an additional day off in honor of Labor Day. That is on top of the holiday itself.

“In recognition of your selfless service to country, tireless devotion to duty and extraordinary accomplishments, I am privileged to grant all personnel 8 hours of administrative leave that can be used this calendar year or next,” he wrote in a notice to employees.

The department counts more than 250,000 employees. Their actual pay varies widely, but a conservative estimate that they average GS-10 level, with a starting hourly rate just above $50, works out to $900 million in potential paid time off last year and $500 million so far this year.

Dating back to the start of his tenure, Mr. Mayorkas has granted nearly $2.6 billion in extra paid time off.

House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green said that’s a problem for a secretary who is also struggling to manage the border and, at times, claiming he lacks the money to do it.

“My Committee has even been told by DHS sources that Secretary Mayorkas has handed out leave at a rate far beyond his predecessors, all while he simultaneously complains about a supposed ’lack of resources’ to secure the border,” the Tennessee Republican said in a statement. “DHS law enforcement deserve much-needed time off to rest and recuperate from the demands of the job. However, the Secretary has demonstrated that he has no clear plan for how to balance this need with the Department’s mission.”

Mr Mayorkas’ generosity is the envy of other federal employees in online forums.

“I heard DHS got the rest of the fiscal year off,” joked one poster at Reddit’s Fednews forum after the most recent Labor Day vacation announcement.

A roll call of other agencies underscored the disappointment.

The Interior Department got two hours, as did the Environmental Protection Agency, the Commerce Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The State Department got three hours. NASA got four hours. An IRS employee chimed in: “We got a very nice email, that’s about it.”

“All of the agencies have the same amount to give each year. I don’t remember exactly what they can give but it’s in the 60 to 80 hour range. It is at the discretion of the secretary of each agency to award it. Unfortunately most of the secretaries don’t care enough to award it,” one poster said.

But others were skeptical of Mr. Mayorkas’ motives.

“If you’re referring to ’Saint Mayorkas’ and DHS, Mayorkas is trying to buy his employees forgiveness for how miserable he has made it to work there,” said one commenter.

Public-facing agencies like the IRS, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Social Security were notoriously stingy with administrative leave because if employees use it, customers are quick to complain about a dent in the mission.

Mr. Gonzalez, though, said Homeland Security sees the same dent in its mission when people aren’t there.

“It’s a double-whammy,” he said. “You’re giving them the time off, which means work gets delayed. At the same time you’re creating a billion-dollar hole in your budget.”

The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees agencies’ policies, didn’t respond to an inquiry for this report. Neither did USCIS.

Homeland Security said Mr. Mayorkas’s generosity is a reflection of the employees.

“DHS employees, and the families who serve alongside them, are extraordinary public servants who make great sacrifices to advance our mission,” the department told The Times in a statement. “These unusually difficult jobs deserve our respect and offering administrative leave is a show of that respect that serves the public interest by contributing to employee morale.”

The department did not answer questions about the total number of work hours granted department-wide or the costs in time not worked.

The time Mr. Mayorkas granted in 2023 included 8 hours — a full workday — for the anniversary of the department’s creation, for Memorial Day, for Independence Day, for Labor Day and for Veterans Day. He also awarded 16 hours — two full workdays — for Thanksgiving and another two days for the December holiday season.

He’s ahead of that pace this year, with an additional eight hours for Public Service Recognition Week.