(unfortunately I am out of WaPo gifts until tomorrow) but as an example, this is there -
The buyouts have rapidly sped up the process of slashing the federal workforce at an unprecedented rate, the officials said. But critics have argued that the administration’s tactics of using buyouts and administrative leave have been wasteful because the public is paying tens of thousands of employees not to work for months.
(snip)
Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations have separately estimated that the government has spent billions of dollars paying workers who are on leave either through the voluntary departure program or because of ongoing litigation over mass firings, according to a report released Thursday. The Democrats, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), argue that the U.S. DOGE Service’s race to slim government this spring led to mistakes and waste, estimating that the whole enterprise cost the government $21.7 billion.
In letters to agencies’ inspectors general Thursday, Democrats requested a review of the costs of DOGE cuts, including how much agencies spent paying workers who were sidelined or resigned.
Some agencies have publicly shared resignation numbers for their staffing changes, though the full scope of the buyouts has largely remained unclear until now. A Washington Post canvass of agencies and internal records counted 14 agencies that had shed more than 105,000 employees through early resignation offers. The higher figure from the Trump administration accounts for some agencies that The Post’s tally did not.
(snip)
Unless it is designated as "unpaid (administrative) leave", then "administrative leave" is "paid leave". They then include the term "buy out" with that (which apparently is applying to SOME Department/agencies but not all, which is why I mentioned about what HHS was doing). I.e., "take this $$$$" as an incentive to "stop work", go on "administrative" leave until the end of the FY, and then good bye.
Blumenthal released a report (I didn't get chance to link in the OP) here (PDF) -
https://washingtonpost.com/documents/b256b202-ff01-48dc-a2d1-80b0e43fa87a.pdf
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