Dear Colleagues,
I would like to begin by thanking you for your commitment to your work and your colleagues during this challenging time. Together, we continue to not only sustain our operations, but make extraordinary achievements in our mission areas of energy, science, and nuclear safety and security.
The health and safety of our employees remains the Department’s primary focus and we continue to closely monitor COVID-19 cases across the DOE enterprise and at Headquarters. Our Labs, Plants, and Sites are at different phases of returning to full operations based on the conditions at the site and in the local community.
We received updated information that we have four Headquarters employees confirmed having tested positive. Two individuals were last in Germantown in March and one individual was last in Forrestal on May 21. The fourth individual was last in Forrestal on July 27 and workplace close contact identification and notification, along with appropriate cleaning, has taken place. This week, we have received a report that one additional Headquarters employee has recovered.
As a reminder, the Department has many leave flexibilities available to you to help juggle work and home responsibilities, such as Excused Absence for Caregiving and the 80 hours of Families First Act sick leave. Supervisors are expected to continue to be sensitive to, and flexible with, employees’ personal situations. If you’re using any of these leave flexibilities, your timesheet must be coded accordingly. For the Excused Absence for Caregiving, you should use the ATAAPS primary leave code of “LV” (Leave Excused), noting “COVID-19 Caregiving” in the comment box. For the Families First Act sick leave, both primary and secondary leave codes must be selected. The primary leave code remains “LV” and the secondary leave code is either “DX” or “DY” depending on which qualifying event applies. For more details, refer to the COVID-19 FAQs.
If you feel overwhelmed and want effective coping strategies to help relieve grief, loneliness, fear, and stress, DOE’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) continues to provide Federal employees up to six free sessions per concern, with the option to continue sessions with the same counselor through insurance or private pay. I am pleased to share that DOE Headquarters Federal employees now have expanded access to supportive counseling services offered through DOE’s Worklife Services partner, Espȳr. These new services are in addition to the current counseling available by the Headquarters EAP specialist, who can be reached at (202) 586-4995 during business hours. Now, all DOE Federal employees may contact Espȳr at (877) 801-5752 to speak to a counselor. For additional information and resources, Federal employees may visit the Espȳr website or the internal EAP page (the DOE password can be found on the internal EAP page).
The COVID-19 Hotline is available for reporting cases as well as for answering questions. The COVID-19 Hotline can be reached by calling (202) 586-2683 (202-586-COVD) or by e-mailing the COVID-19 mailbox at COVID-19inquiries@hq.doe.gov. Emails with personal information can be sent using Entrust.
With COVID-19 continuing to touch all aspects of our lives, I appreciate all you are doing for our nation during these challenging times, and know we will get through them together. Thank you again for your steadfast commitment and perseverance in achieving the Department’s critical and varied missions. Be well and stay safe.
Dan Brouillette
Secretary of Energy