‘Tis the season and OPM has announced three new dismissal and closure policies based on lessons learned over the past year that employees may expect to encounter this year due to inclement weather. The capital area’s policy serves as the model for emergency dismissal practices elsewhere, which typically are overseen by local Federal Executive Boards.
The options are "Staggered Early Departure With Final Departure Time" – under which employees will be directed to leave work early and may request unscheduled leave to leave earlier than scheduled in the announcement; "Shelter in Place" – whereby federal offices in the Washington DC area are under shelter-in-place procedures; and "Immediate Departure," which tells employees to head home right away.
Federal employees in D.C. experienced heavy snow, a tropical storm and flooding and a significant earthquake in the past year.
More information on OPM dismissal and closure procedures is available here: http://www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/dismissal.pdf.
