What is the USPS National Employee Emergency Hotline?
The National Employee Emergency Hotline is an ECR (Enhanced Call Routing) toll-free number for USPS Districts designed to use in the event of an emergency to notify their employees of facility closures, late openings or early closings due to facility problems, weather emergencies, etc.
Employees can call in to 1-888-EMERGNC (1-888-363-7462) and enter or speak the first 3 digits of the ZIP Code of the facility where they work. The caller will then hear a message announcement regarding their specific facility’s instructions. The message heard will be one created by designated resources at the District office.
In June 2014, the USPS National Employee Emergency Hotline added a new feature to assist in accountability for employees during emergency incidents. In the event where a District needs assistance on accounting for employees related to an emergency (hurricane evacuation, tornado event, etc.), the recording that callers hear would now include instructions to press “5” to begin an interactive process.
Employees can now dial the hotline, enter or speak the first 3 digits of the ZIP Code of the facility where they work, hear the facility’s recorded announcement, and then press “5” to begin the interactive process. Their calls will be routed to someone who can verify that the employee is in a safe environment and also can relay employee information to district and area managers.
The new “Option 5” for the National Employee Emergency Hotline will greatly assist postal management when normalheadcount processes will not suffice in accounting for all employees.
Hearing-impaired employees can use Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) by calling state TRS toll-free numbers. A TRS operator will relay information to the Postal Service on the caller’s behalf.
The Details:
Remember PSE’s are NOW entitled to Admin leave.
- Employee must show that they made a reasonable effort in reporting to work
- Statements, newspaper clippings, mail curtailment, call off logs, road closures, accidents, pictures
- Request 3971’s show that employees requesting Admin leave
- Article 19, F-21, Act of God (Contract violation)
- Employees should not be calling off before the snow starts falling.
F-21, 381 “Acts of God”
381.1 Definition Administrative leave is absence from duty authorized by appropriate postal officials without charge to annual or sick leave and without loss of pay. “Acts of God” involve community disasters such as fire, flood, or storms. The disaster situation must be general rather than personal in scope and impact. It must prevent groups of employees from working or reporting to work.
Remember to be safe!
