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October 21, 1997
The following guidelines are intended to coordinate decisions made by Federal agencies concerning group dismissals or closure of activities in emergency situations in the Washington, DC, area. These guidelines apply to snow emergencies, severe icing conditions, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, air pollution, power failures, interruption of public transportation, and other situations in which significant numbers of employees are prevented from reporting for work on time or which require agencies to close all or part of their activities. These procedures apply to all executive agencies (except the U.S. Postal Service) inside the Washington Capital Beltway. Facilities outside the Beltway may prefer to develop their own plans, since they normally are subject to different emergency and traffic conditions than those inside the Beltway. In unusual situations, however, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may issue guidelines affecting facilities outside the Beltway, as well.
The concentration of Federal workers in the Washington, DC, area requires that any change in their work hours because of emergency conditions be coordinated carefully with municipal and regional officials to minimize disruption of the highway and transit systems. For this reason it is essential that, to the extent possible, Federal agencies in the metropolitan area comply with this area-wide plan and the announced decisions on dismissal or closure. Independent action by agencies should be avoided. Some agencies may need to exclude certain offices or activities--especially those in the outlying areas--from the plan. These agencies should notify OPM of such exemptions and update such notices when necessary. Application of this guidance must be consistent with the provisions of applicable collective bargaining agreements or other controlling policies, authorities, and instructions. Nothing in this plan is intended to limit an agency's authority to grant or deny leave or manage its workforce.
In the Washington, DC, area, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the Federal Government's point of contact with municipal governments and regional organizations, such as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (METRO). The designated official at OPM will consult with appropriate municipal and regional officials before a decision on closure, dismissal, or special leave treatment is made and will brief the Director of OPM on highway, transit, and emergency conditions.
The Director of OPM will then make a decision on whether to curtail Federal operations. This decision will be based on the need to keep Federal operations functioning as normally as possible and on concern for the safety of Federal employees.
OPM will notify the Personnel Director of each agency of a decision to close Federal agencies, invoke an "unscheduled leave" or "adjusted home departure" policy, or dismiss Federal employees before the close of the normal workday using the "adjusted work dismissal" policy. Information will be available on OPM's website at http://www.opm.gov (click on the penguin). OPM requests that all agencies making a different decision notify our Office of Communications at (202) 606-1800, FAX (202) 606-2264, or email news@opm.gov.
If the emergency occurs before normal working hours, OPM will make every effort to notify the local news media by 6:00 a.m. of the policy to be announced. If the emergency occurs during work hours, OPM will notify agency Personnel Directors by telephone and/or FAX of any dismissal policy. Some agencies with law enforcement or emergency responsibilities have the Federal Emergency Management Agency's GP-2200 communications circuit. OPM will transmit the announcements on this circuit. Communication centers should be instructed to notify their personnel offices of the announcements.
At least annually, agencies should provide written procedures for emergency dismissal or closure to employees working in the Washington, DC, area. The notice should tell employees how they will be notified and include the text of the media announcements to be used and a detailed explanation of their meaning. The notice also should explain that accrued compensatory time may be used instead of leave or leave without pay (LWOP), if requested by the employee.
At least annually, agencies should identify "emergency" personnel and notify them in writing that they are designated as "emergency employees." The notice should include the requirement that emergency employees report for, or remain at, work in emergency situations and an explanation that dismissal or closure announcements do not apply to them unless they are instructed otherwise. If an agency determines that a situation requires nonemergency employees to report for, or remain at work during an emergency, the agency should establish a procedure for notifying them individually.
Agencies are responsible for determining closure, dismissal, and leave policies for employees on shift work and alternative work schedules (i.e., flexible or compressed work schedules) and for informing employees of these policies.
Occasionally in emergency situations, individual employees may face special family situations (e.g., when employees are expected to report for work on time, but the schools open late or are closed). The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will not provide the media with an announcement to cover these situations. Agencies should notify employees of procedures to be followed when this occurs and should be as flexible and understanding as possible in approving leave in these situations.
Emergencies Before the Workday Begins
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will provide one of the following five announcements to the media when an emergency occurs before the workday begins. Agencies must explain the meaning of these announcements to employees because this will not be included in the media announcements. The following announcements apply to Federal agencies located inside the Washington, DC, Capital Beltway.
If it is announced that the Federal Government is open, but employees are unavoidably delayed in arriving for work, agencies may grant a reasonable amount of excused absence to those employees. In determining the amount of excused absence to grant, agencies should consider such factors as distance, availability and mode of transportation, and the success of other employees in similar situations.
Workdays on which a Federal activity is closed are nonworkdays for leave purposes. Because leave cannot be charged for nonworkdays (5 U.S.C. 6302(a)), employees who are on leave approved before the closure also must be granted excused absence. (Note: This does not apply to employees on LWOP, on military leave, on suspension, or in a nonpay status on the workday before and after the closure. These employees are not entitled to excused absence and should remain in their current status.)
An employee on an alternative work schedule (AWS) whose AWS day off is the same workday on which a Federal activity is closed is not entitled to another AWS day off "in lieu of" the workday on which the Federal activity was closed. Furthermore, there is no basis for an agency to grant an excused absence to such an employee on the AWS day off.
Agencies may use the guidance in OPM's "Handbook on Alternative Work Schedules, December 1996" ("Flexible Work Schedules") to determine the "normal arrival and departure" times of employees on flexible work schedules. The handbook is available on OPM's website at http://www.opm.gov/oca/aws and via modem on OPM's electronic bulletin board system (BBS) by dialing (202) 606-4800 (Compensation Administration Forum).
Emergencies During Normal Work Hours
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is unlikely to announce an "adjusted work dismissal" policy to permit the early dismissal of Federal employees when an emergency develops during normal work hours because the bus and subway systems would find it difficult to organize an early rush hour. However, when an "adjusted work dismissal" is authorized by OPM, employees should be dismissed relative to their normal departure times from work. For example, if a 3-hour early dismissal is announced as a result of a snowstorm or hurricane, workers who normally leave their offices at 5:00 p.m. would be authorized to leave at 2:00 p.m. Workers who normally leave at 6:00 p.m. would be authorized to leave at 3:00 p.m. Supervisors should exempt individual employees from authorized dismissal times under this policy only to avoid hardships (e.g., when younger children are released early from school and no alternative forms of child care are available to the employee). When individual employees are exempted from authorized dismissal times, no leave should be charged to the employee.
Whether agencies charge leave or grant excused absence when an emergency develops during normal work hours depends upon whether the employee is on duty, scheduled to report for work, or on leave at the time of dismissal.
Page updated 20 October 1997
