{"id":15340,"date":"2021-10-26T17:35:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T17:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/26\/initial-return-to-work-plans-did-not-match-federal-safety-guidance\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:33:28","slug":"initial-return-to-work-plans-did-not-match-federal-safety-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2021\/10\/26\/initial-return-to-work-plans-did-not-match-federal-safety-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Initial return to work plans did not match federal safety guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal agencies\u2019 plans to return employees to the office in 2020 were inconsistent and did not always match governmentwide and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, according to an Oct. 25 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-22-104295.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> issued by the Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just over a month after nationwide shutdowns related to COVID-19 sent all but the most essential feds home to telework, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/fedlife\/health\/2020\/04\/20\/heres-the-plan-for-sending-federal-employees-back-into-the-office\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump administration issued guidance<\/a> on how agencies should plan to return workers to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAgencies\u2019 approaches to reentry planning in 2020 varied in several ways including the characteristics of their phases for reentry, how decisions about movement between phases were made, the function and membership of agencies\u2019 reentry working groups, and the content of their reentry plans,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll the agencies developed phased approaches for reentry,\u201d it continued. \u201cAgencies did not progress through the established phases at the same rate and the characteristics of each phase differed by agency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSome variation is to be expected based on agencies\u2019 missions and because progression between each reentry phase was to be informed by state and local guidance as well as local trends in reported COVID-19-like symptoms, documented COVID-19 cases and availability of hospital beds,\u201d GAO acknowledged. \u201cHowever, this inconsistency means that government employees located in the same area, but working for different agencies, might have been subject to different safety protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each phase of reentry also did not include the same percentage of employees returning to the office from agency to agency, with capacity limits for phase one ranging from 10 percent to 40 percent and limits for phase two ranging as widely as 25 percent to 80 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agencies like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/2020\/06\/30\/irs-to-return-to-full-staffing-in-july\/\" target=\"_blank\">IRS planned full staff returns for summer 2020<\/a>, while others kept most of their staff at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAgencies\u2019 reentry plans aligned with many aspects of federal reentry guidance published in 2020. None of the agencies\u2019 2020 reentry plans covered all aspects of federal reentry guidance,\u201d the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGuidance from the White House, OMB, CDC, and other cognizant agencies outlined elements for workforce reentry including factors to inform reentry with corresponding gating criteria and topics related to workplace safety and preventing the spread of COVID-19,\u201d the report added, noting only eight of the 34 recommended safety elements were addressed by all agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most commonly, agencies failed to address protections for employees concerned about safety measures, training on reentry, protections for health screeners, leave flexibilities for COVID-vulnerable employees, ventilation controls, mask requirements and temperature checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal employee groups and members of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/2020\/07\/09\/return-to-work-plans-endanger-federal-workers-senators-say\/\" target=\"_blank\">consistently criticized both the governmentwide and agency-specific plans<\/a> for returning employees to the office under the Trump administration, characterizing them as \u201cendangering the health and safety of federal workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But with the beginning of the Biden administration, the federal COVID response shifted from pushing a return to the office to mandating safety protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House established a Safer Federal Workforce Task Force to lead governmentwide policy, and agencies were required to designate COVID-19 coordination teams to oversee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/2021\/06\/10\/agencies-may-begin-returning-feds-to-the-office-in-july-white-house-orders\/\" target=\"_blank\">pandemic safety planning and compliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAgency workplace safety plans developed between January and April 2021 generally addressed the principles specified in the guidance,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It found that all of the agencies\u2019 plans called for masks and physical distancing, but found the least commonly addressed safety principles were \u201c(1) establishing processes to advise and support supervisors on reporting requirements for handling suspected COVID-19 cases in the workplace, (2) identifying points of contact for all questions related to the protection and confidentiality of employee medical data, and (3) installing physical barriers, where appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The task force was designated as the responsible entity for providing oversight and ensuring agency compliance with governmentwide policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn contrast to initial reentry planning in which there were multiple sources of guidance for agencies to use, agencies could rely on a single set of model safety principles and the Task Force for centralized information when developing their workplace safety plans,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to work plans under the Trump administration were inconsistent across agencies and missing components laid out by the White House and CDC, according to the Government Accountability 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