Thanks to the Blizzard of 2010, most DC area feds (and many in other east coast cities) got paid time off to shovel snow, contemplate life without electricity and get reacquainted with spouses, kids, and select neighbors.

That was then.

Now, because of next week’s important Nuclear Security Summit, chock full of world leaders, some feds have asked if they just might be told to stay home because of traffic and security concerns.

For those hoping and praying for a security/gridlock-generated holiday(s) next week we have one word of advice:

Fugetaboutit!!!!

At best, Monday and Tuesday are going to be really bad hair days for several hundred thousand feds here who bike, hike, drive or take the bus or subway to work.

Reason: Major parts of downtown DC are going to be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. Sunday, April 11 until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13. Traffic restrictions, which will cover an even wider area, will be in effect from 7 p.m. on April 11 (Sunday) until noon on Wednesday, April 14.

If you’ve never experienced the joy of having your car towed, then the nightmare of getting it out of hock, this is your chance!

The giant security blanket covering the summit will extend even further if you park downtown. The heads of state from nearly 50 countries will be on hand, giving emergency services and intelligence experts many nights of nonstop nightmares.

You don’t have to be a paranoid Rhodes Scholar to figure out what a security risk this presents with all those high-profile eggs in one relatively small basket.

Many federal agencies are located in the cordoned-off area and two subway lines pass underneath it. At least one of them (the Mount Vernon Square station) will be closed. So if that’s your regular stop, you’ll need to get off one stop earlier, or one stop later, to get to work.

What we are hearing, barring a last minute security alert, is that federal agencies in the downtown area will be open for business as usual. That’s OPEN, as in NOT CLOSED.

There will likely be a guidance memo alerting workers in the affected area of the security situation. And it is very possible, but not guaranteed until you get it in writing, that there will be a liberal leave/delayed arrival policy. If so, it would mean you can request annual leave at the last minute for either or both of those days, or you may be excused if you arrive late for work.

As always, wait for the memo!

BREAKING MEMO NEWS

Turns out you don’t have to wait long. OPM has issued a memo stating in no uncertain terms, “The Federal Government in downtown Washington, DC, will be open and operating on April 12th and 13th.”

The memo reminds Chief Human Capital Officers that there are options:

We are fortunate to have several human resources flexibilities to allow employees to continue to work, re-arrange work schedules, or take leave. Accordingly, OPM strongly urges the use of telework and alternative work schedules (AWS) to keep the Government operating while helping to minimize traffic congestion and unproductive time during the nuclear security summit. Employees may also request leave.

To read the memo from Director Berry, click here.

Now, back to Mike. sk

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Meantime, make sure you have a Plan B.

About Your Estate

If you work for Uncle Sam, own property and have a TSP account and life insurance you are probably worth a lot more than you, or for sure your spouse, think. So is estate planning a must for you? And just what the heck is estate planning especially if you don’t know if you have an estate?

Estate planner/attorney Tom O’Rourke was our guest yesterday on our Your Turn with Mike Causey radio show. The subject was estate planning. If you missed it, couldn’t listen or want to listen again or alert a friend you can do that. All our shows are archived. To listen to Wednesday’s program on estate planning, click here.

We promised during the show to pass along Tom’s e-mail address, so here you go: TOROURKE@MilesStockbridge.com

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

For those of you keeping track at home, National Public Radio reports a “huge nine-year study of diet and cancer, involving nearly a half-million Europeans in 10 countries, finds only a very weak association between intake of fruits and vegetables and cancer incidence. The study is in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.”

MORE PAY & BENEFITS NEWS

HReinvented: CPO Zients previews changes to hiring
As part of our special week-long series “HR: Reinvented”, we asked Federal Chief Performance Office Jeff Zients to preview changes coming to personnel practices in the federal government. He told us, changes will start at the beginning. To learn more about it, click here.

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