WaPo federal beat reporter Ed O’Keefe helpfully notes that,
Washington, D.C.-area federal offices will operate today under “liberal leave” or “unscheduled leave” and delayed arrival status, meaning employees who cannot make it to work can request off, or should otherwise arrive to work no more than two hours later than normal, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
In addition to perennially spawing jokes about liberals leaving (not to mention “They’re protesting global warming in a snowstorm”) this practice has perplexed me since my move to the area a few years back.
I understand, say, deciding to open offices at 10 am on the theory that the temperatures will have warmed up sufficiently by then to thaw the ice. Instead, though, they want people in “no more than two hours later than normal.” Since federal workers are typically on flex schedules, that means some people will be expected to be in at 8 rather than 6 while others will be expected to be in at 11 instead of 9 or 1 instead of 11.
What sense does that make?
UPDATE: After reading through the comments, the answer is “It depends.” The policy makes sense if:
1. It’s read as “take your time coming in” rather than “report at your normal time plus two hours.”
2. One presumes that the weather will cause even more people than normal to rely on public transit.
3. It’s viewed as a CYA measure rather than a transportation plan.
And, really, all those points have merit.
Photo by Flickr user brownpau under Creative Commons license.
