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Letter to Michael Rigas, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management - Northern Virginia Representatives Urge OPM To Maximize Telework During WMATA Station Closures

Letter

Date: May 1, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Technology and Communication Employment and Affirmative Action

Dear Acting Director Rigas,

We write ahead of the upcoming Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Platform
Improvement Project and Silver Line Phase 2 extension work, during which all Orange and Silver line
stations west of Ballston-MU will be closed and all Silver Line service will be suspended starting
Saturday, May 23. The closure of these stations in Northern Virginia will pose significant challenges to
the thousands of federal workers who rely on Metro to commute.

Current Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance allows for implementation of telework to the
maximum extent possible due to the COVID-19 crisis. We urge OPM to, at the very minimum, provide
maximum telework flexibilities for those affected by the upcoming WMATA service interruptions
regardless of COVID-19-related developments.

Previously, OPM has issued agency guidance to allow expanded telework and alternative work
schedules during WMATA service disruptions. This was done for the SafeTrack program in 2016, ahead
of a severe service disruption for lines in Virginia in 2018, and during WMATA's shutdown of six Blue
and Yellow line stations in 2019. The spirit of the guidance has been helpful. Delays in publication of
the guidance, however, have limited the ability of agencies to deploy telework flexibilities in a timely
manner and in a way that could best mitigate commuting disruptions. Last year, OPM issued guidance
on May 21 just days before WMATA shut down six stations serving thousands of federal employees
despite months of advance notice from WMATA about the planned work.

We urge you to issue timely guidance to maintain the current maximum flexibility in telework options
for affected federal employees for the entirety of the Platform Improvement Project and Silver Line
Phase 2 extension work.

Thank you for your timely attention to this matter.

Sincerely,


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