The new Biden administration has called on the heads of federal agencies to refocus on their COVID-19 response and safety plans for federal employees as part of executive orders signed Jan. 20.
The Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum to agency heads Jan. 24 requiring them to outline pandemic safety plans that met the administration’s minimum requirements by the end of the week.
“To provide ongoing guidance to heads of agencies on the operation of the federal government, the safety of its employees, and the continuity of government functions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the president has established a Safer Federal Workforce Task Force,” Aviva Aron-Dine, executive associate director of OMB, wrote in the memo.
“The task force’s guidance and recommendations to departments and agencies will be based on public health best practices as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts and will be co-chaired by the director of the Office of Personnel Management, the administrator of General Services and the COVID19 response coordinator, with membership from several agencies.”
On top of mask and social distancing requirements on federal property that were put into place by Wednesday’s executive order, agencies will have to submit pandemic safety plans that include:
• No more than 25 percent occupancy in federal office spaces, unless such work is physically impossible to perform or a threat to national security otherwise;
• Advance notice procedures for any remote employees that are called back to work in federal offices;
• The establishment of a COVID-19 coordination team made up of component heads, HR representatives, occupational health and safety representatives, executive leadership, the counsel’s office and a public health expert who are responsible for monitoring safety protocols and conducting contact tracing programs;
• Restriction of official travel to only mission critical work and potentially instituting post-travel quarantine periods;
• Daily symptom screening for in-office personnel;
• Regular communal space cleaning with supplies provided for cleaning personal spaces;
• Hand sanitizer stations;
• Limiting visitors to federal property with screening and testing for those that must visit; and
• Staggering work schedules to avoid travel and office space congestion.
“I think that this administration is setting the right example,” said American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley on a Jan. 26 press call.
“I think that AFGE overall totally supports that executive order, and I think that our membership do as well.”
The memorandum only requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to submit COVID safety plans, though smaller agencies are encouraged to develop their own plans along the same principles.
Some agencies will, by the nature of their missions, not be able to meet certain requirements. For example, VA medical centers must be nearly fully staffed in person to respond to the needs of those they serve. But other agencies that cannot justify a mission-need for keeping employees in the office will be pushed to pursue more cautious planning.
The Biden administration’s approach to pandemic planning at federal agencies has already notably diverted from the Trump administration’s approach, which left decisions like return to work deadlines and mask mandates up to the heads of individual agencies.
That administration said a more discretionary approach would give agencies the flexibility to respond to how bad an outbreak was in their particular area, but AFGE Local 704 President Nicole Cantello noted on the Jan. 26 press call that it resulted in agency heads who disagreed with pandemic science refusing to mandate certain safety protocols in their offices.
The requirements released by the Biden administration also encourage agencies to go beyond the minimum steps outlined in the guidance document and take whatever steps are deemed necessary to limit spread and keep federal employees and contractors as safe as possible while completing agency mission.
