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This is their holiday treat .... There is nothing so simultaneously yearned for and ridiculous as the email invoking the 59 minute rule. We do not take this rule lightly. I am told there have actually been debates regarding the authority ... to invoke the 59 Minute Rule .... I was too busy leaving at the time to notice.1
Introduction
Good-natured federal managers have long used the so-called fifty-nine-minute rule to excuse brief absences by their civilian employees and to release them from duty early for almost any acceptable reason.2 The authority for doing this at taxpayer expense, however, is unclear. One will not find a fifty-nine-minute rule in statutes or federal regulations, yet its use and affect on morale are undeniable.3 In a workforce embracing change, supporting a war, and facing a large scale restructuring, morale can be pivotal. Even so, the caliber and commitment of federal employees might surprise many in the private sector. For the most part, these are not the caricature, clock-watching bureaucrats who sponge off of the American taxpayer and can never be fired.4 They are, instead, dedicated personnel responsible not only for their mission but for the sound stewardship of government resources.5 So what is it about giving them an hour off that evokes such sarcasm?
Some of this attitude, doubtless, is envy or even a twinge of guilt, but much of it may stem from concerns over the rule's propriety and appearance of propriety. As with many personnel rules, the origins of the fifty-nine-minute rule have been shrouded by time, leaving uncertainty over its status and scope.6 Newly proposed revisions to its vestigial foundations may further obscure its basis.7 The consequent ambiguity surrounding this time-honored tradition, ironically, can lead to its abuse and to litigation harmful to office morale8 yet, even during the season of its most prevalent invocation, few in our workforce seem to have a free hour in which to examine its validity. Thus, it seems appropriate to do so now.
This article will briefly examine the legal and regulatory authority behind particular categories of employee absences. Next, this article examines the origins and uses of the fifty-nine-minute rule, and some noteworthy administrative case decisions involving the rule and its underlying principles. Finally, this...