Message from the National President
Since the first reported cases of swine flu emerging out of Mexico were announced, NTEU has been raising concerns about CBP’s approach to your health and safety. I have been in frequent contact with key members of Congress, sharing with them your frustrations and my attempts to get clear guidance from DHS that permits you to adequately protect yourselves and your families. A hearing specifically examining the safety and health protocols for employees of federal agencies with regard to swine flu has been scheduled for next week. I will testify that DHS is not taking adequate steps to ensure your health and that employees should be permitted to wear masks if that is what they choose. I am grateful to Chairman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
for convening this hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Federal
Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia and for
recognizing that the interim DHS guidance does not adequately
address your concerns. You can watch the hearing on Thursday at
2 p.m., ET, at federalworkforce. In the meantime NTEU is continuing its ongoing efforts with CBP. I know that many of you have questions about CBP’s medical clearance questionnaire and NTEU’s continuing dispute with the agency over your right to exercise your discretion about wearing a mask to guard against possible swine flu infection. I want to update you on these matters. At the outset, I want to share the advice I provided to your chapter leaders last Friday: if you want to wear a mask, put your request in writing, and document any agency refusal. If you suffer from a respiratory problem that might prevent you from wearing a mask, ask—in writing as a reasonable accommodation—for a Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) or to be reassigned to duties without public exposure. That would be a reasonable accommodation. Further, if you have any medical circumstance which you believe would otherwise make you susceptible to this virus, request—again, in writing—that you be allowed to wear a mask as a reasonable accommodation. It is my intention to file this week a national grievance against CBP on the mask issue. While that likely will not provide any immediate relief from CBP’s inappropriate action in unilaterally implementing its mask policy without completing bargaining with NTEU or from its ongoing refusal to allow discretionary use of masks, it will provide a basis for retroactive remedies for any CBP employee adversely impacted. As to the medical clearance questionnaire that was the subject of Acting Commissioner Jayson Ahern’s Tuesday memo, NTEU's own review of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations indicates that medical clearances, based on completion of the questionnaire, and fit-testing of the masks are required when employers mandate the use of respiratory masks. CBP is mandating use of the masks when within 6 feet of those with flu-like symptoms, which is why the questionnaire is being required. If the use of masks was voluntary, as NTEU has called for, such measures would not be required. To address your concerns about potential other uses of the questionnaire, I want to stress to you that CBP’s own policy, as well as the federal Privacy Act and its implementing regulations, limit the use of employees’ personal information provided in questionnaire responses to determine whether employees are medically-cleared to wear masks. No other use of that information is permitted, including using it to determine an employee’s fitness for duty. I assure you NTEU is prepared to seek redress for any employee whose information is unlawfully used for another purpose. You can have full confidence that NTEU is pursuing every possible avenue in this fight, both short-term and long. Your continuing support is vital, and deeply appreciated. For more information about NTEU’s efforts and swine flu, visit www.nteu.org/swineflu.aspx.
|
