I have received many emails from my EPA colleagues thanking me for sending my Open Letter to EPA Senior Leadership. All of them expressed hope that the Administrator and Deputy Administrator will take action soon to address supervisors and managers who have refused to adjust their expectations of employees in recognition of the varying degrees of burdens created by the pandemic.
Dr. Michael Ottlinger, President of NTEU Chapter 279 at EPA’s Cincinnati facility, sent me this thoughtful response, and allowed me to share it publicly.
“I hear from employees, particularly young mothers, who are extremely stressed about having to ask for leave from work, because of their families’ needs, and owing to their literal exhaustion, both physical and emotional. Part of their concern is that such absences will be seen by their supervisors as evidence to their being insufficiently supportive of agency work goals, e.g., the thought that: Not everyone asked for leave, they sucked it up, but not you.
“Everything we can do to alleviate any unfair burdens they suffer in these extreme circumstances, and reassure them that these measures are open to them without concern for retaliation, or lowered performance evaluation, or reduced career opportunities based on adverse assessments of their commitment to agency goals, would be appreciated by all of us.
“I would ask all agency leadership, the Administrator included, to regularly affirm that the agency understands their problems and ensures them that using this leave is encouraged.”
I am still eagerly waiting to meet with the Deputy Administrator, as per her response posted earlier.