Fed. Employees Advised to Stay Home When It’s Hot Outside

ashley.rae | July 25, 2016
DONATE
Font Size

While many residents of the Washington D.C. area are managing to make it to work despite the 100-degree forecast, federal employees are allowed to stay inside and work from the comfort of their own beds.

Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Beth Cobert released a statement advising federal agencies to allow their employees to take advantage of telecommute options for the “health and well-being of our employees” during the “potentially dangerous heat waves.”

“During days with severe heat and humidity, agencies are reminded of OPM’s workplace flexibilities that may be used to reduce health risks. With supervisory approval and to prevent work disruptions, a telework-ready employee may telework from home on a day when air quality conditions are poor,” the statement reads.

Employees who choose to show up for work are allowed to “adjust arrival and departure times to avoid commuting during the hottest periods of the day.”

If some federal employees just find it too hot to bear working at all, OPM says they can “request annual leave, earned compensatory time off, or credit hours on a day when severe heat and humidity are threatening to the employee’s health and welfare.”

So while you’re going about your week, just remember that as taxpayers, you’re funding the salaries of bureaucrats who get to lounge about in their pajamas, binge-watching Netflix on their laptops, just because it’s too hot outside to commute half an hour to the office.

donate