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Farm Credit Administration 

Covid-19 Workplace Safety Plan 

Draft Dated March 2022

This plan is intended to support FCA leaders with guidelines and 

planning considerations for how to evaluate the needs of employees as 

FCA transitions operating status during thepandemic. NOTE: With five 

(5) office locations whose occupancy ranges from 30 to over 160 

employees, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and decisions will be 

based on data at the local level.

NOTE: On February 25, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set 

recommendations related to COVID-19 Community Levels, which measure the impact of 

COVID-19 illness on health and healthcare systems. Layered prevention strategies — like 

staying up to date on vaccines, screening testing, ventilation, and wearing masks — can 

help limit severe disease and reduce the potential for strain on the healthcare system.

Updates to this plan are consistent with initial implementation guidance on the COVID-19 

Community Levels (PDF).
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Contents

Introduction............................................................. 3

Office Location Status ............................................ 4

Telework Status....................................................... 4

Advance Notice Between Phases............................ 4

COVID-19 Vaccinations......................................... 4

Vaccination Documentation.................................... 5

Vaccinations for New Hires.................................... 5

Vaccinations During Duty-Time ............................. 5

Travel ...................................................................... 6

In-Person Training .................................................. 6

Emergency Response Contact................................. 6

COVID-19 Testing.................................................. 6

Face Masks / Coverings.......................................... 7

Physical Distancing................................................. 7

Temperature Checks................................................ 7

Sick Employee ........................................................ 8

Incident Reporting .................................................. 8

Dependent Care Availability ................................... 8

Transportation ......................................................... 8

Reasonable Accommodation................................... 9

Food Services.......................................................... 9

Building Cleaning ................................................... 9

Cleaning Supplies................................................... 9

Personal Protective Equipment............................. 10

Shared Equipment................................................. 10

Meetings and other gatherings.............................. 10

Common Areas...................................................... 10

Workspace Redesign............................................. 10

Signage.................................................................. 10

Re-exit Strategy .................................................... 10
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Introduction

Protecting FCA employees and stakeholders from the effects of COVID-19, while preserving the 

agency’s ability to complete its mission, is the foundation for implementing this plan. Effective 

reentry and reintegration planning are critical to FCA’s personnel, mission, and other 

stakeholders. This plan applies an enterprise-wide, risk management lens to a phased approach 

for re-opening FCA offices. Agency leadership meets regularly to implement this guidance on a 

location-by-location basis as the issues facing each office location may differ.

This plan incorporates safety principles from the OMB Memorandum M-21-25, Executive Order 

14043 (Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees), OMB Agency 

Model Safety Principles, protocols pursuant to guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task 

Force and other pertinent guidance. Considerations and trend data points reviewed by the agency 

when making operating status decisions include:

• COVID-19 Community Levels: High; Medium; Low?

• Community Transmission Level: High; Substantial; Moderate; Low?

• Testing: Is the number of tests administered increasing? Decreasing?

• Hospitalization: Is the hospitalization rate increasing? Decreasing?

• Cases: Is the number of new cases increasing? Decreasing?

• Vaccinations: Are total local vaccinations administered increasing? Decreasing?

Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker as of March 2, 2022
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NOTE: As local conditions change, FCA leadership may consider reverting to a previous 

operating status.

Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Office Location 

Status

Open Open Open Open

Telework Status Mandatory Maximum; allowing 

up to 25% normal 

occupancy per office 

location.

Expanded, allowing 

up to 50% normal 

occupancy per office 

location.

Senior staff will be 

on-site.

Normal Operations

Advance Notice

Between Phases

N/A 3-week notice 

before moving from 

phase 1 to 2

3-week notice 

before moving from 

phase 2 to 3

30-day notice before 

moving from phase 

3 to 4

COVID-19

Vaccinations

Note: To ensure compliance with an applicable nationwide preliminary injunction, which 

may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, 

FCA will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement 

pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for 

Federal Employees. 

When enforceable, all Federal employees covered by Executive Order 14043 and without a 

legally required exception must be fully vaccinated by November 22, 2021, regardless of 

where they are working.

When enforceable, employees who are on maximum telework or working remotely are not 

excused from this requirement since employees working offsite may interact with the public 

as part of their duties and agencies may need to recall employees who are on maximum 

telework or working remotely.

When enforceable, employees who fail to comply with a requirement to be fully vaccinated 

or provide proof of vaccination and have neither received an exception nor have an exception 

request under consideration, are in violation of a lawful order and subject to discipline up to 

and including removal.

The agency will grant up to 2 workdays of administrative leave if an employee has an 

adverse reaction to any COVID-19 vaccination dose that prevents the employee from 

working (i.e., no more than 2 workdays for reactions associated with a single dose).

The agency will grant leave-eligible employees up to 4 hours of administrative leave per dose 

to get the booster shot and/or accompany a family member (as defined in OPM’s leave 

regulations, see 5 CFR 630.201) who is receiving any COVID-19 vaccination dose.
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Vaccination 

Documentation

When enforceable, under EO 14043 agencies must require documentation from employees to 

prove vaccination, even if an employee has previously attested to their vaccination status. 

Employees may provide a copy of the record of immunization from a health care provider or 

pharmacy, a copy of the COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, a copy of medical records 

documenting the vaccination, a copy of immunization records from a public health or state 

immunization information system, or a copy of any other official documentation containing 

required data points. The data that must be on any official documentation are the type of 

vaccine administered, number of doses received, date(s) of administration, and the name of 

the health care professional(s) or clinic site(s) administering the vaccine(s). Employees must 

certify under penalty of perjury that the documentation they are submitting is true and 

correct. Legible digital, scanned, or PDF copies are acceptable.

Vaccinations for New 

Hires

When enforceable, under EO 14043 the agency requires individuals who start their 

government service after November 22, 2021, to be fully vaccinated prior to their start date, 

except in limited circumstances where an accommodation is legally required. However, 

should the agency have an urgent, mission-critical hiring need to onboard new staff prior to 

new staff becoming fully vaccinated, the agency head may delay the vaccination requirement

— in the case of such limited delays, new hires will be fully vaccinated within 60 days of 

their start date and follow safety protocols for not fully vaccinated individuals until they are 

fully vaccinated.

Vaccinations During 

Duty-Time

The time a federal employee spends obtaining any COVID-19 vaccination doses (including 

travel time) is considered duty time. No administrative leave will be taken during the basic 

tour of duty hours.

In most circumstances, the agency authorizes employees to take up to four hours to travel to 

the vaccination site, complete any vaccination dose, and return to work — for example, up to 

eight hours of duty time for employees receiving two doses.

The agency requires employees taking longer than four hours to document the reasons for the 

additional time (e.g., they may need to travel long distances to get the vaccine). Reasonable 

transportation costs that are incurred as a result of obtaining the vaccine from a site 

preapproved by the agency are handled the same way as local travel or temporary duty cost 

reimbursement is handled based on agency policy.
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Travel Fully Vaccinated: Generally, there are no government-wide limits on official travel for 

federal employees who are fully vaccinated.

Unvaccinated: Unless it is contrary to a reasonable accommodation to which an employee is 

legally entitled, unvaccinated Federal employees are limited to only necessary missioncritical trips.

Note: FCA will not approve official travel for an employee who has come into close contact 

with someone with COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, for 10 days after the close 

contact. In the rare circumstances where FCA has an urgent mission-critical need for the 

employee who had a close contact to undertake official travel during that time, FCA requires 

the employee to wear a well-fitting mask when around others for the duration of the travel 

during the 10 days.

In-Person Training FCA sponsored in-person training of 50 or more people must be approved the Chief 

Executive Officer.

In addition, please refer to the sections on:

• Face Masks/Coverings

• Physical Distancing

Emergency 

Response Contact

Identify contact for each office location.

COVID-19 Testing Develop voluntary 

COVID-19 at-home 

testing plan for FCA

employees

Implement 

voluntary COVID19 at-home testing 

plan for FCA

employees

Testing as needed Develop and 

implement screening 

& diagnostic testing 

programs
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Face Masks /

Coverings

CDC has provided county-level data showing the COVID-19 Community Level for each 

county in the United States. For Federal facilities in the United States, agencies should utilize 

that data in determining the COVID-19 Community Level for a given facility by looking to 

the COVID-19 Community Level for the county in which the facility is located. Where a 

locality imposes more protective pandemic-related safety requirements, those requirements 

should be followed in Federal facilities within that locality.

When the COVID-19 Community Level is LOW in the county where an FCA office is 

located, mask wearing is not required, regardless of vaccination status. 

When the COVID-19 Community Level is MEDIUM in the county where an FCA office is 

located, mask wearing is not required, regardless of vaccination status. 

When the COVID-19 Community Level is HIGH in the county where an FCA office is 

located, mask wearing IS required, regardless of vaccination status and consistent with CDC

and Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance on mask-wearing. Note: As a federal 

agency, we have the discretion to provide limited exceptions to the masking requirement, 

consistent with CDC guidelines; and employees can wear a mask if they choose regardless of 

COVID-19 Community Level and consistent with FCA protocols. As such, during board 

meetings, board members are not required to wear masks while maintaining distancing. In 

addition, presenters are not required to wear masks while presenting and maintaining 

distancing.

Physical Distancing When on-site, physical distancing is generally not required for fully vaccinated personnel.

However, fully vaccinated people are recommended to physically distance in public indoor 

settings in areas of substantial or high transmission; if they are immunocompromised; or at 

increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19, or if they have someone in their household 

who is immunocompromised, at increased risk for severe disease or not fully vaccinated.

Those not vaccinated or those who refuse to provide vaccination information must continue 

to physically distance regardless of community transmission rate.

Temperature Checks Until further notice, on-site temperature checks will be conducted using contactless 

thermometers and/or temperature-scanning kiosks.
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Sick Employee Sick Employee — Employees who have symptoms should stay home and notify their 

supervisors.

Employees who appear to have symptoms upon arrival at work or who become sick during 

the day should immediately be separated from other employees and sent home — and are 

advised to isolate, pursuant to CDC guidelines.

Note: If you had COVID-19 and had symptoms, isolate for at least 5 days. To calculate your 

5-day isolation period, day 0 is your first day of symptoms. Day 1 is the first full day after 

your symptoms developed. You can leave isolation after 5 full days. You can end isolation 

after 5 full days if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing 

medication and your other symptoms have improved (Loss of taste and smell may persist for 

weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation). You should continue 

to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public for 5 additional days (day 6 

through day 10) after the end of your 5-day isolation period. If you are unable to wear a mask 

when around others, you should continue to isolate for a full 10 days. If you continue to have 

fever or your other symptoms have not improved after 5 days of isolation, you should wait to 

end your isolation until you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing 

medication and your other symptoms have improved. Continue to wear a well-fitting mask. 

If an employee is subject to isolation due to being infected with COVID-19 and is unable to 

telework, the employee may request sick leave. Employees may also request accrued annual 

leave and other forms of paid or unpaid leave in this situation as appropriate.

Incident Reporting Employees who report to the worksite are required to report to their supervisors or the Chief 

Human Capital Officer, if they receive a positive COVID-19 test result and/or have been 

notified that they had close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 up 

to 2 days prior to the infected person developing symptoms (or testing positive in the absence 

of symptoms) so appropriate precautions in the workplace can be taken. 

In the case of a reported positive COVID-19 test result or presumed infection, Chief Human 

Capital Officer will perform internal contact tracing, and provide further applicable guidance 

on testing, quarantine, and isolation. The identity of infected employees will be protected to 

the greatest extent possible, in compliance with Federal privacy and confidentiality laws and 

regulations.

Dependent Care 

Availability

Telework flexibility is encouraged for employees who lack dependent care due to COVID-19.

Transportation Telework flexibility is encouraged for employees whose transportation is disrupted due to 

COVID-19.
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Reasonable 

Accommodation

Employees can contact their supervisors or engage the agency’s RAC (Angela Brown) for 

guidance on how to proceed with reasonable accommodations requests.

If the reasonable accommodation is denied, following the agency’s established process for 

consideration and appeal, the agency will require that employee to receive their first (or, if a 

one-dose series, only) dose within two weeks of the final denial determination.

If receiving a two-dose series, the employee must receive the second dose within 6 weeks of 

receiving the first dose. If the employee received a first dose of a two-dose series prior to 

seeking an accommodation, agencies should require that the employee receive their second 

dose within two weeks of the final determination to deny the accommodation or within a 

week of the earliest day by which they can receive their second dose, whichever is later.

Employees who are approved for accommodation would need to follow applicable masking, 

physical distancing, and testing protocols for individuals who are not fully vaccinated, as well 

as applicable travel guidance.

Food Services On-site food service availability will vary and may be limited to

takeout or delivery.

TBD

Building Cleaning Additional cleaning of high-touch areas (e.g., handrails, elevators, 

bathrooms) and evaluation of systems that may be affected by low 

usage (plumbing, HVAC) will be performed. All facilities will be 

sanitized. Once cleaned, each work area will have signage posted 

stating that the cleaning took place.

If a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 is determined within 

the workplace, enhanced environmental cleaning of the space(s) that 

the individual occupied or accessed in accordance with CDC 

guidance.

Additional cleaning, 

as needed.

Cleaning Supplies Adequacy of 

cleaning supplies 

and supply chain 

will be evaluated to 

ensure there are 

sufficient supplies 

(including hand 

soap, sanitizer, and 

other restroom 

supplies) to support 

the reopening of the 

offices.

Adequacy of 

cleaning supplies 

and supply chain 

will be evaluated to 

ensure there are 

sufficient supplies 

(including hand 

soap, sanitizer, and 

other restroom 

supplies).

Adequacy of 

cleaning supplies 

and supply chain 

will be evaluated to 

ensure there are 

sufficient supplies 

(including hand 

soap, sanitizer, and 

other restroom 

supplies).

Adequacy of 

cleaning supplies 

and supply chain 

will be evaluated, as 

needed.
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Topic Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four

Personal Protective 

Equipment

FCA will ensure an adequate supply of PPE (face masks, gloves, 

hand sanitizer, etc.) is available for employees.

Available, as 

needed.

Shared Equipment FCA will ensure access to hand sanitizers or sanitizing wipes near shared equipment 

(printers, copiers, scanners, etc.).

Meetings and other 

gatherings

FCA sponsored meetings and other gatherings of 50 or more people must be approved the 

Chief Executive Officer.

While some meetings will be virtual, others may be in-person. For in-person meetings, 

please refer to the protocols in the following sections:

• Face Masks/Coverings

• Physical Distancing

Note: As a federal agency, we have the discretion to provide limited exceptions to the 

masking requirement, consistent with CDC guidelines. As such, during board meetings, board 

members are not required to wear masks while maintaining distancing. In addition, presenters 

are not required to wear masks while presenting and maintaining distancing.

Outside visitors to FCA sites must present information about their vaccination status.

Visitors will complete a Certification of Vaccination form prior to or when entering the 

building.

The form will be kept by the visitor, while on the agency’s premises, and may be requested 

upon entering indoor areas of the facility. The form will not be maintained by the agency.

Common Areas Some common areas are closed. For those areas which are open, please refer to the protocols 

in the following sections:

• Face Masks/Coverings

• Physical Distancing

Workspace Redesign Open workspaces that do not allow at least six feet between 

employees may require the installation of sneeze shields and/or other 

appropriate safety barriers.

Redesigned, as 

needed.

Signage FCA will work with the Building Association to increase signage 

reminding employees to use recommended hygiene practices and 

social distancing protocols, to stay home when sick, and to report 

any COVID-like symptoms.

Posted, as needed.

Re-exit Strategy If necessary, FCA will reactivate our mandatory or expanded telework posture.
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