More than 500 State Department employees are asking the Trump administration to reconsider its plan to reopen the department’s office with up to 80% of staff as the coronavirus remains a threat.
NBC News reports that 540 State Department employees signed a letter expressing their concerns about returning to work in person. They sent it to Undersecretary of State Brian Bulatao on Thursday.
"We write today with a request for your continued advocacy for maximizing workplace flexibilities and to sensitize you to the ways in which moving too quickly to Phase II, both domestically and overseas, could lead to reduced productivity, negative consequences for manager-employee relations, detrimental effects to the health and safety of employees, and disparate consequences that would counteract the Department's objectives for diversity and inclusion," the letter obtained by NBC News states.
On Monday, the outlet reported that the State Department moved its offices in Washington, D.C. to Phase II of its reopening plan, which permits offices to be occupied at up to 80%.
In order to shift to Phase II reopening, there must be a 14-day downward trend of COVID-19 cases. That hasn’t been achieved in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland area, according to NBC News.
The reopening plan must also take other factors under consideration like the availability or area schools and daycares.
Washington, D.C., public schools announced Thursday that they will start the school year virtually, which was a point raised by the department’s employees in their letter.
"Care facilities and caregivers are not widely available and employees do not feel safe returning to the office," the employees wrote in the letter. "The viral prevalence, and thus risk of infection, is far higher than when the Department sent everyone home in March.”
The employees are urging the department to return to Phase I, which allows 40% of offices to be staffed. They are also asking officials to make it clear that all employees who have been approved to telework can continue to serve “without retribution,” until schools have reopened.
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News that "Employees who are in vulnerable populations are not required to return to the office.”
"During this phase, telework flexibilities are still encouraged given childcare, eldercare, and transportation concerns,” the spokesperson said.
The State Department had an employee who works on the seventh floor of its headquarters down the hall from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo test positive for coronavirus this week, The Hill reports.
Several other staff members also tested positive for the virus this week, including employees who work at a nearby annex.
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