For decades, a “government closure” announcement in Washington, D.C., meant a guaranteed snow day for the federal workforce. Those days are largely behind us. As reported by FEDweek, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued updated guidance reaffirming a stark reality for the modern federal employee: when the office closes for weather, your workday continues at home.
This guidance is a critical reminder for the 2025–2026 winter season. Understanding the nuances of “unscheduled telework” versus “weather and safety leave” is essential to protecting your leave balances and maintaining compliance with your agency’s policies.
❄️ The New Standard: “Snow Days” Are for the Non-Eligible
The core of the OPM guidance is clear: telework program participants are ineligible for weather and safety leave when federal offices are closed due to emergency conditions, provided they can safely perform work at their approved telework site.
- The Expectation: If you have a telework agreement and the necessary equipment (laptop, tokens, etc.), you are expected to work your regular hours from home, even if the physical building is shuttered.
- The “Unscheduled” Option: During these closures, agencies typically announce “unscheduled telework,” allowing employees to work from home without prior approval for that specific day.
- The Cost of Unpreparedness: If you fail to prepare—for example, by leaving your laptop at the office despite a forecasted storm—you generally cannot claim weather and safety leave. You must either take annual leave, leave without pay, or (if agency policy permits) work a different schedule.
📊 Sound Data: The Scale of the Shift
The impact of this policy is massive, dividing the workforce into two distinct categories during emergencies.
- The “Must-Work” Majority: According to data from the Partnership for Public Service, while 61% of working hours for telework-eligible employees were in-person in 2024, the infrastructure for remote work is now ubiquitous. This means the vast majority of administrative and knowledge workers are effectively “on call” during every storm.
- The Protected Minority: In contrast, approximately 43% of the federal workforce—nearly 1 million employees—work exclusively in-person due to the nature of their jobs (e.g., security, maintenance, frontline healthcare). These are the primary recipients of true “weather and safety leave” during closures.
- Leave Balance Risk: For a GS-12 employee, burning a day of annual leave because they weren’t set up to telework costs roughly $400–$500 in accrued time value. Over a stormy winter, “unpreparedness” can effectively wipe out a week of planned vacation.
⚠️ Critical Exceptions: When You Don’t Have to Work
OPM does provide safeguards. You may be granted weather and safety leave if:
- Power/Connectivity Loss: Your home loses power or internet due to the storm.
- Unanticipated Emergencies: The emergency could not be reasonably anticipated (e.g., a flash flood or sudden earthquake), preventing you from bringing equipment home.
- Dependent Care Conflicts: While typically you must work, agencies may grant exceptions if school closures prevent you from working a full day, allowing a mix of telework and leave.
🛡️ Preparedness Is Your Best Policy
OPM’s message is simple: Be ready. If a storm is coming, take your laptop home. But weather isn’t the only unpredictable force that can disrupt your life. Just as you must “insure” your ability to work during a storm, you must insure your financial future against unexpected gaps in income or changes in policy.
This is where Internal Benefit Advisors becomes your strategic partner. We help you build a financial continuity plan that works in all seasons.
How We Help You Weather the Storm:
- Leave Balance Optimization: We help you calculate the value of your annual leave and sick leave as part of your total retirement asset, ensuring you don’t “waste” high-value hours on preventable administrative errors.
- Disability & Continuity Planning: What if the disruption isn’t the weather, but your health? We analyze your disability benefits and insurance gaps to ensure your income continues even if you can’t log in.
- Financial Resilience: We help you structure your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and emergency savings so that a short-term disruption (like a furlough or unpaid leave period) doesn’t derail your long-term retirement goals.
Don’t let a snowstorm freeze your productivity or your leave balance.
Contact Internal Benefit Advisors today for a comprehensive benefits review and continuity plan.
References
- FEDweek. “OPM Addresses Status of Telework-Eligible Employees during Severe Weather or Other Emergencies.”
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Governmentwide Dismissal and Closure Procedures.
- Partnership for Public Service. Federal Telework By the Numbers.
- Internal Benefit Advisors. Retrieved from https://internalbenefitadvisors.com
