The memo also highlights several other considerations regarding weather dismissals:
Unscheduled telework “has become a standard human resources tool in the procedures. It is a product of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, which requires that all agencies incorporate telework into their continuity of operations plans. To support continuity of operations on any day when federal offices are closed, OPM’s goal is to maximize the use of telework for both essential and nonessential functions.”
Relatedly, as agencies have established their telework policies and incorporated them into their continuity of operation plans, and as more employees have continued to work when offices are closed, “the justification for providing excused absence to employees on pre-approved paid leave has become obsolete, since agency operations continue, to a substantial degree, even when federal offices (i.e., buildings/facilities) are closed. As a result, OPM’s federal closure announcement procedures will no longer advise agencies to cancel an employee’s pre-approved paid leave and automatically grant the employee excused absence on a day when federal offices are closed.”
(Note: The actual practice in many locations already has been that employees who were scheduled for annual leave on a day of a weather closing are charged for that leave rather than given excused absences.)
Offices in the Washington area “should avoid taking independent action because changes in the commuting hours of federal employees can result in dramatic disruption of the highway and mass transit systems. Following OPM’s operating status announcements and policies will allow for coordination with municipal and regional officials, and will reduce disruption of the highway and transit systems. This will both reduce traffic congestion and ensure that affected employees are treated as consistently as possible.”
