On May 20, 2020 we posted IRS Is Asking More Workers To Return To Work Voluntarily Amid The Pandemic, where we discussed that The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown, nearly 60 percent of its workforce, to handle tax returns and pay out refunds. The employees won't be paid during the shutdown and the IRS is asking more employees to volunteer to return to work on site with incentive pay as the agency begins to reopen offices that were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the union representing agency employees said.Now according to Law360, the IRS plans to order employees in Kentucky, Texas and Utah who can't telework to return to their worksites starting June 1, Commissioner Chuck Rettig told workers May 19, 2020, saying the agency would keep pursuing employee safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reardon said the IRS has informed the union that agency "posts of duty" in those states have been thoroughly disinfected, a comprehensive cleaning schedule is in place and there are sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment for workers to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The union leader said the health and safety of returning workers is a priority for the union, which is why it will continue urging the IRS to provide the returning employees with tests and basic medical screenings.
"The IRS Made Clear That After An Initial Call For Volunteers In Certain IRS Divisions To Return To Work, Mandatory Callbacks Were Likely," Reardon Said.
The directive for some employees to return follows agency workers voluntarily coming back. Earlier this month, Reardon said the union supported an IRS call for additional employees to volunteer to return, but said they needed to feel safe doing so, particularly after a Kansas City, Missouri, worker contracted COVID-19.
Rettig said in his email that over the next several weeks, the agency will continue asking employees whose work isn't portable to return to their posts of duty.
The IRS Is Aware Of Growing Taxpayer Needs And
An Expanding Backlog Of Work At Its Office
And Campus Locations, He Said.
Employees who are sick shouldn't come in and may have to provide documentation if sick leave exceeds three consecutive workdays, Rettig said in the email. Workers who are in high-risk populations as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may ask for weather and safety leave if they can't telework, he said.
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Thousands of IRS workers returning to work Today Monday June 1, 2020 in Kentucky, Texas and Utah will face nearly 5 million unopened tax returns as of mid-May, according to a report compiled from IRS data by the House Ways and Means Committee.
ReplyDeleteThe agency already has been processing some 4.4 million individual tax returns and 1.4 million business returns as of May 16, according to the report, which the panel shared with Law360. In addition to the unopened tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service has approximately 5 million unopened mail items including payments, payment vouchers, general correspondence and information returns.
To protect employees' health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency will enforce social distancing and obtain nearly 1.8 million disposable masks and 188,000 reusable masks, the May 27 report said.
"The focus of employees reporting to the four submission processing centers is on opening mail and depositing checks, as well as income verification requests," the report said.
IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig had previously announced the agency planned to order 11,000 employees in Kentucky, Texas and Utah who can't telework to return to worksites starting June 1.
IRS employees returning to work will join other agency workers who already returned on a voluntary basis. Earlier in May, Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said his organization supported an IRS call for additional employees to volunteer to return, but said they needed to feel safe doing so, particularly after a Kansas City, Missouri, worker contracted COVID-19.
Rettig previously said the agency will continue asking employees whose work isn't portable to return to their posts. The IRS is aware of growing taxpayer needs and an expanding backlog of work at its office and campus locations, he said.
As of May 9, the agency had approximately 24,000 employees on so-called weather and safety leave, 47,000 employees who were teleworking and 2,000 employees working on-site for at least 30 hours per week, according to the report.