Employees at the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C., and its regional field office in New York are working from home this week after a contractor who was working at the D.C. office of the bureau tested positive for the coronavirus.
The CFPB said it is waiting for test results taken from two employees who worked at the D.C. office and started exhibiting symptoms last week.
CFPB employees who work at the D.C. office were notified last Thursday that an employee had started exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus and had been tested. The next day, the CFPB sent another email to employees notifying them that a second employee had started exhibiting symptoms. Then, another email was sent yesterday alerting employees that the contractor — who worked on the fifth floor of the CFPB’s headquarters — had tested positive.
“My thoughts are with this person and their family during this trying time,” the email said, according to a published report. “I know I speak for all of us when I say we are looking forward to their full and speedy recovery. As you know, we have instructed the cleaning contractor to conduct a thorough and deep clean of the bureau’s headquarters and New York offices. During this time, we have a mandatory telework policy in place for this week for D.C. and New York offices.”
Following the positive test, the CFPB instituted a mandatory telework policy for all employees in its New York and Washington offices for this week. Teleworking is being “encouraged” for CFPB employees who work in other field offices, according to the report. The CFPB is still awaiting results from the test conducted on its two employees.
