An estimated 9,000 workers at four federal agencies remained on administrative leave Tuesday, and tens of thousands of the 149,000 other federal employees who work in the District were either stuck in traffic for hours or opted to take personal leave, officials said.
Just how much the record-setting storms will end up costing the federal government due to buildings closed by floods or lack of electricity or because of traffic delays is hard to gauge, said U.S. Office of Personnel Management spokesman Michael Orenstein.
“There is a decent number of workers out, but it’s still a very small percentage of the federal work force,” he said. “Most employees are here and working.”
Yet even a small percentage could be costly. The Environmental Protection Agency closed two buildings completely and put 3,000 employees on paid administrative leave, officials said. The Internal Revenue Service shut down its headquarters, sending nearly 2,500 employees home on paid leave. And the Department of Justice sent an estimated 2,400 employees away from the city to work at alternative locations or allowed them unscheduled leave, officials said.
Employees of agencies under the executive branch alone have a daily payroll of $104 million, Orenstein said.
If just 5 percent of those employees were either put on administrative leave or opted to take unscheduled leave for three days, that would cost $15.6 million in lost time. That number does not account for employees who either arrived late or left early to avoid traffic congestion.
Orenstein said that his office does not keep daily tabs on either forced or optional leave requests, nor does it keep track of how many employees are telecommuting from home or working at alternative sites.
People have to be careful when they talk about “lost time,” Orenstein said.
He said taking personal leave for an event like this is no different than taking a vacation day. It’s budgeted, he said.
Federal officials were expected to begin inspecting buildings late Tuesday night and make a decision on whether the buildings can reopen by this morning.
