IRS orders office evacuation, affecting most agency employees

The directions include employees who don’t have a telework agreement.

The IRS issued a nearly blanket evacuation order to its workforce beginning today, the latest in a series of steps to shrink the number of on-site employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.

An agency-wide email from IRS Human Capital Officer Robin Bailey on Friday explained that all employees “including employees who are currently not teleworking but whose work is portable or can be adapted to work off-site" must "evacuate the work site” and either work from home or an alternate location.

The directions include employees who don’t have a telework agreement. Prior guidance from management had told telework-eligible employees to work remotely.

But the evacuation order isn't universal for the IRS workforce, which totaled about 73,500 full-time equivalent positions in 2018, according to the most recently available data. The headcount grows this time of year due to seasonal hires to accommodate tax return filing season.

The order was first reported by Federal News Network.

Bailey’s message didn’t address how the evacuation would affect tax returns, refunds or direct payments of $1,200 for most Americans that the IRS will play a large part in distributing. Press liaisons didn’t respond to a request for comment.