DOJ GEN announces (temporary) leadership transition

Before we get to the updates, we want to let you know that starting April 19, our fearless President and Co-Founder Stacey Young will be out on detail outside of DOJ. Stacey will step aside from DOJ GEN while she is out, and the indomitable Colleen Phillips will serve as Acting President. Colleen is an attorney with the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit of CRT’s Criminal Section, a member of DOJ’s Sexual Harassment Steering Committee, and a coordinator of DOJ’s Gender Policy Working Group. She’s not only a fearless advocate but a subject-matter expert on many of our issues, and we’re lucky that she’s been a fixture on our board from the beginning. Fortunately, Melanie Krebs-Pilotti will stay on as Vice President.

 Updates on flexible work options, including the scaling back of telework

Last Thursday, OMB issued a memo that characterizes flexible work options as “an important tool in talent recruitment and retention,” but also instructs agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work at federal offices.” OMB established timelines for agencies to reevaluate and revamp their current policies. We were surprised to see this and we’re still assessing the memo; we’ll be in touch about it again soon.

OMB issued the memo just days after AFGE released results of a nationwide survey of federal employees finding that 87.5% of respondents said telework improved productivity at their agency. The memo also came only a month after OPM director Kiran Ahuja touted the virtues of telework before Congress.

We’re continuing to track components’ modifications to their policies on flexible work options.  If you learn of any changes, please get in touch with Crista Colvin at cmcolvin@bop.gov.

Possibility of improved child care support for federal employees

Hot off the press! On April 18, the Administration announced a series of executive actions to make child and long-term care cheaper and more accessible for those who need it. The announcement addressed federal employees specifically. An Executive Order, which the President has not signed yet, will direct OPM to “conduct a review of child care subsidy policy and consider setting standards for when and how federal agencies should provide child care subsidies to federal employees. Additionally, all federal agencies will review opportunities to expand employee access to child care services through federal child care centers, child care subsidies, or contracted care for providers.” We’ll let you know more after we’ve studied this, but it certainly sounds promising.

New support from the Administration for trans and other gender non-conforming feds

OPM issued an important guidance late last month that directs agencies to update personnel policies to ensure a “non-discriminatory and inclusive” work environment for all employees, particularly transgender and other gender non-conforming workers. The guidance explains how agencies should handle name and pronoun changes, bathroom access, and leave for gender-affirming medical care. It also directs agencies to designate officials to serve as a points of contact for transitioning employees who request support, and create a system that allows employees to help design a plan to facilitate the transition process in the workplace.

Other components offer nursing-related travel accommodations

In our last update we mentioned that the Antitrust Division will now cover a range of nursing-related expenses for employees on official travel, including costs incurred by a travel companion who can help care for an employee’s child, additional baggage fees related to feeding, milk shipping expenses, early check-in or late check-out fees, and other lodging expenses related to nursing. Because members contacted us, we now know that the Criminal Division and Civil Rights Division have also been offering similar accommodations. If you’re aware of any other components that are doing this, please let Melanie Krebs-Pillotti know at MKrebsPilotti@usa.doj.gov.  We’re working on a template letter that members can use to urge their component leadership to provide these critical accommodations if they’re not already doing so.

How the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act may affect federal employees

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which Congress passed and the President signed into law in December 2022 (10 years after it was originally introduced), is set to go into effect on June 27. The law is great. It supplements protections that existing civil rights laws already provide (e.g., Title VII, FMLA, the Americans with Disabilities Act) by requiring covered employers to grant reasonable accommodations to workers who need them because of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation would cause the employer an “undue hardship.”  And the federal government is one of those covered employers! This Federal Times article discusses what feds might be entitled to starting in June, such as additional bathroom breaks, or the ability to sit, receive closer parking, take time off, or have flexible work hours or the ability to telework.  We’ll let you know when the EEOC issues regulations, which should be soon; they’re sure to provide everyone with more clarity.  In the meantime, the EEOC’s Q&A has helpful information.

Understanding what fertility services FEHB plans will start covering next year

OPM recently announced that it will require federal health insurance providers to cover more artificial reproductive technology services than they had in the past. What plans will and won’t be required to cover is all a bit confusing and this new GovExec Daily podcast is helpful in understanding what changes we can expect to soon see. If you have questions about DOJ GEN’s advocacy around this issue, you can contact Abi Farthing at Abigail.A.Farthing@usdoj.gov.