No More 'Free' Snow Days for Federal Workers?

(Editor‘s note: Watch a video below of 2015 dismissal and closure guidance from OPM.)

When winter weather hits, you can bet that schools and offices — especially federal agencies — will close.

One thing that federal employees won’t be able to bank on is getting a “free” day off, according to the Office of Personnel Management. The government is now considered open on a federal closure day with federal workers expected to telework from home, a panel that included an OPM representative said this week (watch video below).

Government Executive points out that the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act requires all agencies to incorporate telework into their continuity of operations plans, so the “justification for providing excused absence to employees on pre-approved paid leave became obsolete,” OPM said in its December 2014 guide on Washington, D.C. Area Dismissal and Closure Procedures.

Take a look at the new rules in the handbook here.

The agency laid out its reasoning this week, stating that the old policy is outdated, of allowing federal workers to basically get a “free” day off.

Federal agencies have several options, Government Executive points out, when determining its operating status. For example, agencies can be open with the option of unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework; open with delayed arrival; closed; or operating under early dismissal, which in turn affects employees’ work schedules.

“In the past, when Federal offices were closed, most agency operations were shut down, and the Federal closure day was considered a non-workday for affected employees,” the new guidance issued this month states. “On a non-workday, the employee’s pre-approved leave was cancelled and the employees would have received excused absence, since the office closure was viewed as preventing the employee from working.”

OPM’s guide says “the justification for providing excused absence to employees on pre-approved paid leave has become obsolete ...”

But ultimately, the responsibility lies within each agency, according to an expert panel briefing on the 2015 Dismissal & Closure Guidance for the Washington, DC area.

Watch the video below; panelists include: U.S. Office of Personnel Management, National Weather Service, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

Take a look at the new rules in the handbook here.