The official rulebook that allows federal employees paid time off has a very long list of legitimate reasons to miss work and still get paid. Perhaps you’re donating blood? Maybe an organ? Or you have to go to a Boy or Girl Scout jamboree? 

But what if you’re accused of a crime or of misbehavior in the workplace, and are in the process of an investigation? In that case, stay home…and still get paid. The total number of workers on paid administrative leave? Well that’s a number that the government does not track.

“The real tension point here, I think is that they end up being at home for months, and in many cases years, while their cases are investigated,” says Washington Post reporter Lisa Rein.

Listen to the full conversation in the audio player above.