In pandemic, homes could become 'safe havens' for work

In the case of a pandemic flu outbreak, federal agencies could find ways to encourage employees barred from leaving their houses to work from home, despite the lack of legal authority to mandate telework, according to new guidelines from the Office of Personnel Management.

The 76-page OPM document released Monday is the second of three guides prepared in response to President Bush's request for a plan to keep federal agencies operating during emergency situations such as an outbreak of pandemic flu.

The document, drawing on existing laws and regulations, states that neither agency heads nor OPM can mandate telework. But by ordering an evacuation and authorizing pay for evacuated employees, agencies can declare the employees' homes "safe havens," and require them to "perform any work necessary" from their homes during the evacuation period, the document states.

If employees refuse to work from home in such a situation, they could be required to use annual leave and could be furloughed or disciplined, the guidelines state. Future guidance is expected to address the administration of evacuation payments during pandemic influenza.

The policy is intended to allow agencies to continue functioning while promoting "social distancing" to protect employees from the virus, according to Monday's document.

Don Winstead, OPM's special assistant for pandemic planning, who retired June 2 but was brought back specifically to work on this guidance, said the document is intended to cover the "waterfront of issues" surrounding a potential pandemic flu outbreak.

New guidelines specifically addressing telework are expected from OPM the first week of August. They will include planning checklists for agencies to determine whether employees are prepared to work remotely in the event of a large catastrophe such as a terrorist attack, natural disaster or health emergency.

Winstead noted that legally, telework is a voluntary arrangement. But the evacuation pay option is one of several OPM is exploring to keep agencies functioning in the event of a pandemic flu.

"That is a way of keeping the government's business going," Winstead said. "We already have regulations with evacuation pay.… We're looking to see if they are sufficient for use in a pandemic."

Advocates of telework blasted Monday's guidelines for failing to thoroughly answer questions surrounding work away from the office situations during a mandatory evacuation - namely, what would happen in cases where some employees would automatically have to work because they requested authorization to telecommute, while others lacking the authorization would not be required to work.

"If you participate in telework, and your office is closed on a snow day, you're still expected to work," said Chuck Wilsker, president and chief executive officer of the Telework Coalition. "[If] the person in the cube next to you doesn't telework, they get a day off and they can go out and go sledding with the kids."

William Mularie, chief executive officer of the Telework Consortium of Herndon, Va., said the document reflects out-of-date thinking. Teleworkers are doing their agency a favor, and failing to give managers the legal authority to require telework prevents them from properly preparing for situations where a majority of employees are forced to work remotely, he said.

"Agency heads and management have the responsibility to the American people for the sustainability of the agency's work to be able to deliver critical services," Mularie said. "There is either something wrong with the law or something wrong with the interpretation."