IRS recalls thousands of workers. tells them to bring their own coronavirus protection equipment

The IRS is recalling ‘mission-critical’ employees back to their offices, but is telling them they need to bring their own face masks to work because the IRS may not have enough masks for them.

About 10,000 IRS employees are expected to be recalled to work in 10 locations, the National Treasure Employees Union told Politico. 

They would be responsible for opening mail from tax payers, handling tax documents and other urgent tax-filing season needs, as well as working on doling out paper check stimulus payments. 

The IRS said in an internal memo that it would be mandatory to wear face coverings inside IRS buildings starting Monday, but admitted it didn’t have supplies to give returning employees. 

The IRS is recalling 10,000 workers to handle upcoming tax deadline needs and economic stimulus payments, but doesn’t have enough protective gear for those workers to use 

‘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 IRS said the memo. 

‘Employees are therefore required to bring personal face coverings for their nose and mouth area when they come to work.’ 

In an internal memo, the IRS said face coverings were mandatory, but workers would need to bring their own, and suggested they make them out of t-shirts or bandannas (as pictured) 

It recommended that workers make face coverings with t-shirts or bandannas if necessary, but to make sure that the face masks did not bear offensive or inappropriate text or images.  

Workers were told that if they worked in private offices or had individual cubicles with barrier walls, they could remove the face masks, but would need to replace them when going into common areas.   

‘An employee who fails to adhere to the requirements in the memo may be required to return home until such time the employee adheres to these requirements. Please remember, the intent of this requirement is to ensure the health and safety of all our employees and their families,’ the memo concluded.  

The memo was made public by members of the House Ways and Means committee Saturday.

Committee chairman Rep. Richard Neal and oversight subcommittee head Rep. John Lewis, said that while they understood the need for the IRS to recall workers ‘back to work during perilous times’ to carry out the department’s mission, not providing appropriate protective gear was a major issue. 

In a statement, Neal and Lewis said: ‘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.’  

They also noted that the IRS ‘is expecting entirely too much of employees who are likely distraught over the health risks returning to work presents for themselves and for their families, as well as the potential repercussions they could face if they do not clock in on Monday with the mandated equipment in-hand.’ 

The internal memo was shared by House Ways and Means committee chairman Rep. Richard Neal (left) and oversight subcommittee head Rep. John Lewis (right) who said in a statement that it was the government’s job to provide protective gear to recalled workers

IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig had previously told congressional staff that 100 IRS employees have been diagnosed with coronavirus and that four had died.  

Reardon said the IRS is asking for its workers to volunteer to come back to the office and offering them incentive pay, but that it would order workers to come in if not enough people stepped up. 

The union is working with the IRS to ensure that buildings have appropriate cleaning and disinfecting supplies, as well as enough social distancing space and protective gear.  

The IRS employs 73,000 workers across the US. It started closing all of its processing and taxpayer assistance center at the end of March and shut down its last location on April 8. 

Since then, thousands of employees have been working from home. 

But, with the encroaching, postponed July 15 tax filing date coming up as well as the need to start sending out economic stimulus paper checks to millions of Americans, the IRS now needs workers in the offices.    

The IRS has not yet issued a comment about the issue.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk