FCC Staff Can Telework into 2021; Health Concerns Delay HQ Move

The FCC will allow workers who are teleworking now to continue doing so until at least June 2021, and delayed its move to new headquarters until September 2020 over concerns about staff being infected with COVID-19 during the packing process. That's according to interviews with staff, the employee union, and a memo emailed to workers Friday by Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry. (Our earlier news bulletin on this is in front of this publication's pay wall here and the other one is at 2007240038).

Other agencies are waiting to see when they will dial back on remote work. Some experts caution it's premature to talk about returning. "The health and safety of the FCC's staff is our top priority,” emailed a spokesperson.

The decision to allow staff to telework until next summer was made “in light of recent announcements by school districts as well as the ongoing nature of the pandemic,” wrote Berry. “Frontline" employees "are cautiously optimistic about the steps that the agency is taking to protect their health and safety,” said Tracy Bridgham, president of the National Treasury Employees Union’s FCC chapter, in a statement.

“We want to provide those with concerns ranging from childcare to their own health with the peace of mind that they will have the flexibility they need over the coming months,” said Berry. Earlier, staff and Brigham told us employees didn’t feel comfortable returning soon. “Employees remain anxious over the risks to their health and generally agree that there is no need to return to the office as long as the coronavirus continues to spread,” Bridgham said. NTEU is pursuing improved telework options in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with the agency, she said.

Telework will be mandatory until the move to the new headquarters is complete, Berry told employees. That’s now projected to be in September. The initial attempt to move with 60 employees at a time in the building was suspended shortly after it started “because there was insufficient compliance with mandatory safety precautions and social distancing requirements” an FCC spokesperson emailed. A staff member who had been in the building earlier this month also tested positive for COVID-19, the spokesperson said. “We are confident that this staff member did not become infected as a result of being in the building.” Berry referenced having learned lessons from “what happened during the first two weeks of July.”

The Berry memo outlines a replacement move process, with professional movers to handle the packing, including of staff workspaces, starting Aug. 31. Small numbers of staff at a time will be allowed to get only important personal items if they choose not to have movers transfer them, the memo said. “It is essential that we limit the number of persons in the building in order to protect all employees and contractors, especially those staff who are required to be in the building to perform essential activities that cannot be performed via telework.” Having movers pack staff workspaces is “less than ideal” but the best option for keeping staff safe and timely completing the move, he said.

Work Uninterrupted

Attorneys who deal with the FCC say the agency’s shift to telework hasn’t greatly affected their dealings. Berry and Bridgham emphasized it hasn’t hurt productivity.

Womble Bond broadcast lawyer Gregg Skall said the agency’s decision to continue teleworking might influence other entities in the communications sphere to do the same, but things were trending that way anyway. “Even if the FCC had gone back to work, I would expect teleworking [for other entities] to continue as long as there is a continued threat.”

The ability to conduct ex parte meetings hasn’t been notably affected by FCC work from afar, so the agency continuing it isn’t an evident concern, said FCBA President Natalie Roisman of Wilkinson Barker. “This is an unprecedented challenge for everybody,” but the FCC has remained productive and allowed FCBA members to do business as usual as much as possible, she said.

NTEU was “relieved” by the agency’s swift reaction, Bridgham said: “When an employee tested positive, FCC wisely delayed the packing process.” Staff said they are pleased with the response to COVID-19, some expressing concern pressure to reopen could shift the response. At the July commissioners' meeting, Pai declined to give a timeline or guidance on reopening, just repeating staff’s safety is his foremost concern.

NTEU was critical of other aspects of FCC novel coronavirus response. Bridgham said in some instances, employees were required to report to workplaces to perform tasks the FCC considers mission critical but that don’t meet that standard in the union’s eyes. Bridgham said NTEU received reports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines are being inconsistently applied, without proper screening of people.

The union also said employees are concerned about how work in the new building will be managed, and the FCC stalled negotiations over parking and required employees to determine their new workspaces without adequate information. These issues should be “revisited” before employees work in the new HQ, Bridgham said.

The American Federation of Government Employees has a 10-point list before return to work that includes universal testing and a 14-day decline in cases; it doesn’t require a vaccine. A June letter to the White House from the Federal Workers Alliance, signed by numerous other unions including the National Federation of Federal Employees, also doesn't demand a vaccine first.

Other Agencies

Of agencies we surveyed, none were far along in requiring all come back to government buildings.

Earlier this month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moved into phase two of its re-occupancy plan for Rockville, Maryland, HQ, and sites in Pennsylvania and Atlanta. More employees can work in NRC buildings but staff can remain on a telework schedule for all or part of the week, it emailed. It expects the vast majority of workers will still work remotely, and doesn't have a time frame for phase three, "which is considered the return to 'business as usual." It said, due to local pandemic conditions, NRC sites in Chicago, Texas and Chattanooga, remain in phase one with most staff directed to telework.

The SEC told us it expects to remain teleworking at least through early October. FAA has a multiphased plan to return employees to their workplaces "safely and gradually as we meet public health criteria in regions or states ... based on conditions rather than tied to a specific timeline."

The EPA said it's evaluating all its facilities weekly using data from, among other sources, the CDC. It said employees "will continue to have maximum telework flexibilities and will not be forced to return to the office as EPA implements its measured and deliberate approach to reopening that ensures our employees’ health."

Health Considerations

Deciding when to have employees return to the workplaces depends on an array of factors beyond just local incidence rates of infection, but also such issues as how much of the workforce has to take public transportation or is in a high-risk group, experts said. Also of importance is how well the office can keep people socially distanced and how often frequently touched surfaces like doorknobs and countertops can be cleaned.

"People who are able to work at home should be allowed to keep working from home as long as possible until the pandemic is under better control," said Susan Buchanan, University of Illinois Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program associate director.

If a community is showing "promising" signs of infection rates trending downward, employers can start thinking about whether facilities are ready for wider occupancy, said Marissa Baker, University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Science assistant professor. Baker said tech companies in the Seattle area opted to allow staff who can do so to work at home at least until the start of 2021, and some government agencies' departments have moved to permanent telework.

Even if local trends are good and healthcare capacity is ample, "continue on a cautious path of a partial reopening," advised Rick Neitzel, University of Michigan associate professor-global public health. Public access to the workspaces should be one of the last steps, assuming there's no mission-critical need for the public to return, he said. "I wouldn't let people just walk into the building," he said: Returning employees need to be trained, not only on the building's masking and social distancing policies but also such issues as changes to processes.

Experts cautioned that decisions about heading back to the office could be conflict-ridden. Such clashes are "unfortunately inevitable," Neitzel said. UW's Baker said some are eager to get back to offices and return to normalcy, and there are wide range risk tolerances. She said people getting sick at workplaces without proper protections could result in litigation, though one challenge is there are no enforceable standards to protect workers during the pandemic.