OPM has delayed implementation of new policies governing when agencies may dismiss employees with pay and without charge to paid leave due to severe weather or other safety considerations.
The rules had been set to take effect April 20, under a 2016 law that revised longstanding practices of granting “administrative leave” for those purposes and for other situations. That law spelled out allowable uses of administrative leave—which had not been specifically authorized in law previously—and created new forms of leave called investigative leave, notice leave and weather and safety leave.
OPM last year issued proposed rules covering each of those categories, although only the weather/safety category was set to take effect in April. Until it does, prior practices remain in effect.
The new category of paid leave, “weather and safety leave,” largely replaces prior policies under administrative leave, also called excused absence. The rules result from a 2016 law clarifying circumstances under which employees may be granted paid time off without charge to paid leave such as annual leave.
“Weather and safety leave is permitted–at an agency’s discretion but subject to statutory and regulatory requirements, agency policies, and lawful collective bargaining provisions–only when an agency determines that employees cannot safely travel to and from, or perform work at, their normal worksite, a telework site, or other approved location because of severe weather or other emergency situations,” a notice in today’s Federal Register says.
Although the final rules do not give examples of such situations, the draft rules published last year mentioned terroristic attacks; natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and snowstorms; and localized emergencies such as a power outage, building fire or burst water pipes.
The leave generally will be provided in connection with an operating announcement made in such situations, OPM said. In the Washington, D.C. area, those announcements are made by OPM, while in other places that commonly is the responsibility of regional Federal Executive Boards.
OPM added that the weather/safety leave policy does not impact designation of employees as “emergency essential” who are expected to report to work even when agencies are closed for weather or safety reasons.
Other provisions include: there will be no cap on the number of hours that agencies may grant for such leave; the authority can be used if agencies close a facility in preparation for a severe hurricane or other pending disaster, as well as for evacuations related to such events; it cannot be used for situations such as breakdowns in mass transit systems that employees use for commuting; generally, an employee may not receive weather/safety leave for hours during which the employee already is on other preapproved leave (paid or unpaid) or paid time off; and in most cases if an employee requests annual leave in order to leave work before an announcement is made that the agency is granting such leave, the employee will remain on annual leave.
