IRS employees returning to work, told to bring their own face coverings

Thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees are being asked to voluntarily return to their offices and bring their own face masks, after working from home or being furloughed with pay during much of the coronavirus pandemic.

The IRS is telling the workers to bring their own face coverings because the agency may not immediately have a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment for all employees.

Incentive pay is being offered to motivate IRS employees to return voluntarily, but Government Executive reports that they could be required to return if too few volunteers take the offer to return to their offices.

The House Ways and Means Committee recently posted online an email advising employees to bring their own face coverings to work.

"Although the IRS is seeking to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves, each IRS facility may not be able to initially procure the PPE for all employees immediately," the email says. "Employees are therefore required to bring personal face coverings for their nose and mouth area when they come to work."

Workers are required to don face coverings while using certain areas like bathrooms and elevators but will be allowed to take off the covering while working in an office or a cubicle with separators.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neale (D-Mass.) and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) expressed their disapproval. 

“It is understandable that in carrying out its mission during a crisis, the agency would require some employees to report back to work during perilous times,” the legislators said in a statement. “However, it is completely irresponsible and unethical for the IRS to demand those workers obtain their own protective equipment—this is the responsibility of the federal government to its workers.”

About 10,000 agency employees at 10 IRS facilities are expected to come back.

“Bringing employees back to work is essential to address mission-critical needs for the nation, and the IRS is an essential component to our country’s whole-of-government approach to confronting the COVID-19 pandemic,” the IRS said in a statement.