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IRS Not Getting Germ Protection Supplies to Workers, Union Says

Posted on Mar. 13, 2020

The president of the IRS’s largest labor union said he’s heard numerous reports in recent days that IRS management has been slow or absent in providing personal protective equipment, hard surface wipes, gloves, and hand sanitizer to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon, in a March 12 conference call with reporters, also called for the IRS to immediately extend telework protections to as many workers as possible to get employees off public transportation, where the virus might spread.

“There has not been, to this point . . . a lot that has actually been done to deal with workplace flexibility” and other IRS employee workplace needs, Reardon said. The union leader called for shift work schedules to be modified to reduce workspace crowding and thus person-to-person transmission of the virus.

Reardon said he’s discussed those and other concerns with IRS management and has made suggestions about mitigating them. “At this point, our suggestions have really been in large measure met with responses that are as following: ‘It’s under consideration,’ or ‘It’s being discussed,’” he said.

The IRS didn’t respond to a request for comment on Reardon’s remarks. The NTEU represents almost 150,000 employees of 33 federal agencies, including the IRS.

Reardon also joined a growing number of individuals in urging the federal government to delay the tax filing deadline beyond April 15.

“The American taxpayer is now, and certainly over the next several weeks is going to be, going through a very difficult time, and so we’ll provide them more time to ultimately pay their taxes and submit their tax filings," Reardon said, echoing the sentiments expressed by House and Senate Democrats and the American Institute of CPAs .

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a House subcommittee March 11 that the department is considering delaying tax payments for at least some filers, and that the move could inject more than $200 billion in liquidity into the economy.

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