DOE HQ O 3600.1B, Emergency and Hazardous Weather Dismissals

HQ 3600.1B Chg1 5-9-84 SUBJECT: EMERGENCY AND HAZARDOUS WEATHER DISMISSALS 1. PURPOSE. To transmit revised pages to HQ 3600.1B, EMERGENCY AND HAZARDOUS WEATHER DISMISSALS, of 2-7-84. 2. EXPLANATION OF CHANGE. Changes “Departmental Elements” to “Headquarters Elements” in subparagraph 9b. 3. FILING INSTRUCTIONS. a. Remove Page Dated Insert Page Dated 3 2-7-84 3 2-7-84 4 2-7-84 4 5-9-84 b. After filing the attached pages, this transmittal may be discarded. DISTRIBUTION: INITIATED BY: All Headquarters Personnel Office of Personnel HQ 3600.1B 2-7-84 SUBJECT: EMERGENCY AND HAZARDOUS WEATHER DISMISSALS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. PURPOSE. To prescribe revised responsibilities and procedures for dismissal of Department of Energy (DOE) Headquarters employees due to emergencies or hazardous weather and provide for the equitable application of excused absence or charge to leave under such conditions. CANCELLATION. HQ 3600.1A, EMERGENCY AND HAZARDOUS WEATHER DISMISSALS, of 4-23-82. SCOPE. The provisions of this Order apply to all Headquarters Elements, including the Office of the Inspector General (IG). BACKGROUND. The Department is responsible for ensuring that all employees are informed in a timely manner of early dismissal due to hazardous weather and for the equitable application of charges to leave or excused absences of its employees with respect to dismissal and leave treatment during emergency situations. RESPONSIBILITIES. 6. a. Heads of Headquarters Elements are responsible for designating Headquarters employees who perform vital functions and meet the criteria set forth on pages 3 and 4, paragraph 9, of this Order. b. Assistant Secretary, Management and Administration (MA-l), shall maintain a master list of critical service employees. c. Director of Personnel (MA-20), through the Headquarters Personnel Operations Division (MA-205), is responsible for: (1) Developing implementation policy and evaluating the effectiveness of the emergency and hazardous weather dismissal system. (2) Determining the applicability of general leave policy to employees located beyond the Washington Capital Beltway and informing both the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and employees at such locations of any variation of general policy applicable to those offices. PROCEDURE FOR NOTIFICATION OF DISMISSALS. a. The Executive Assistant Director, OPM, will serve as the Federal Government’s point of contact with the District of Columbia Government, DISTRIBUTION: All Headquarters Personnel INITIATED BY: Office of Personnel 2 HQ 3600.IB 2-7-84 the Washington Area Council of Governments, and the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, and will arrange for consultation among representatives of these bodies prior to making a decision on leave policy for Federal employees. b. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, in conjunction with the Assistant to the President for Cabinet Affairs, will make the final decision on Federal leave policy for Federal offices in the Metropolitan area, after consultation as described above. c. The Director of Personnel shall assure that the administrative officer of each Headquarters organization is notified immediately of early dismissals. d. The administrative officers shall disseminate early dismissal information throughout their organizations.

7. GUIDELINES FOR EXCUSING ABSENCE OR CHARGING LEAVE. The decision as to whether an employee is charged leave or excused without charge to leave is predicated on the employee’s duty or leave status at the time of dismissal and on whether the emergency condition arises during the employee’s duty hours or nonduty hours. The following guidelines are to be applied uniformly throughout Headquarters: a. Emergency Condition Arising During Employee’s Duty Hours. (1) If the employee is on active duty and is excused, there is no charge to leave for the remaining hours of the work shift following the early dismissal. (2) If, after being notified of early dismissal, the employee departs on annual leave prior to the time set for dismissal, leave is charged from the time of departure until the time set for dismissal. If a dismissal time is set before an employee on leave can report for duty, leave is charged up to the dismissal time. (3) If the employee is absent on approved leave for the entire work shift, the entire absence is charged to appropriate leave (e.g., annual, sick, or LWOP, as applicable). b. Emergency Condition Arising Outside Employee’s Duty Hours. (1) When Federal activities in the Washington metropolitan area do not open because of emergency or hazardous weather conditions, the decision will be disseminated promptly to the news media for broad- cast. An employee is not charged leave under this condition. (2) An employee on previously authorized leave will not be charged leave in the above situation. Workdays on which Federal offices are closed are nonworkdays for leave purposes. HQ 3600.1B 3 2-7-84 (3) (4) Snow or ice developing during the night or before an employee’s regular working hours should not be the basis for absence from work; but, under unusually severe weather conditions, supervisors are authorized to approve up to 1 hour of administrative leave for excused tardiness, if the supervisor feels that such tardiness could not reasonably have been avoided. Frequently, during hazardous weather conditions, a liberal leave policy goes into effect. Liberal leave, in this context, refers to allowing employees to take annual leave or leave without pay without having to notify or otherwise obtain the prior approval of a supervisor. When an employee requests leave in such situations, the supervisor or manager is encouraged to approve it. Such liberal leave policy, if effected, will be announced by the news media. c. Germantown Facility. As a general rule, hazardous weather leave policy applicable to the Forrestal Building will also apply to the Germantown facility. Any exceptions will be reviewed on a case by case basis. 8. EMERGENCY CONDITION PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. When hazardous or emergency conditions develop during an employee’s nonduty hours, information on what effect the situation has on work or leave status will be disseminated by the news media. The following is a list of emergency conditions and an explanation of each: a. Early Dismissal. Severe weather conditions; employees dismissed a specific number of hours in advance of their normal quitting time without charge to leave. b. Delayed Arrival and Liberal Leave . Emergency conditions exist; employees must make every effort to get to work. Supervisors may grant up to 1 hour of excused absence and/or as many hours of annual leave or leave without pay, as appropriate, at their discretion, to employees who experience commuting delays due to severe weather and request excused absence and/or leave.

c. Closure. Hazardous weather conditions; all agencies closed for the day. Employees, except those who have been designated as essential to the operation of the agency (see paragraph 9), are excused from work. 9. CRITICAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES. a. Federal Personnel Manual (FPM) Supplement 990-2, Book 610, Appendix A, paragraph 3, entitled “Essential Personnel Providing Critical Services,” states: “It must be recognized that there are certain critical Federal operations which cannot be suspended or interrupted even though HQ 3600.1B Chg1 5-9-84 it may be necessary generally to excuse employees for all or part of a day. To avoid confusion, it is important that all Agencies identify those essential employees who perform duties which are vital to the continuity of medical facilities, public safety, national defense, or other crucial operations, and who are required therefore to be at work regardless of emergency situations or any general dismissal authorization. Agency directive systems should be used to identify these employees by job title or other appropriate means. These employees should be made aware, preferably in writing, of the special requirements placed on them for reporting to, or remaining at, their worksites in emergency situations.” b. Heads of Headquarters Elements will designate in writing those Headquarters employees who perform functions which they have determined meet the above criteria, will notify in writing the employees so designated, and will submit lists of those so designated, by name and title, to the Assistant Secretary, Management and Administration, Attention: Headquarters Personnel Operations Division, MA-205, by 10-31 of each year. See Attachment 1 for example of the format to be used. 10. INQUIRIES. Officials and employees should refrain from calling the Office of Personnel Management or other offices responsible for making or communicating decisions concerning the closing of offices, since the telephone circuits may become congested and the transmission of the very information sought may be delayed. When there is to be an early dismissal, that information will be conveyed to the principal administrative officer in each Headquarters Element as soon as the OPM decision has been officially communicated to the Department. Vertical line denotes change. HQ 3600.16 2-7-84 Attachment 1 Page 1 (and 2) FORMAT FOR DESIGNATION OF CRITICAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY DESIGNATION OF CRITICAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES AB-1 Organization 1984 Year In accordance with FPM Supplement 990-2, Book 610, Appendix A, paragraph A-3, “Essential Personnel Providing Critical Services,” the following positions are hereby designated critical and the employees have been notified of their responsibilities under this designation: Name of Employee Title of Position DOE, John Q. Emergency Operations Coordinator SMITH, J. M. Watch Officer