DESK ROULETTE

FEMA Workers Told to Flip a Coin to Determine Who Has to Return to Office

The agency does not have enough desks for all of the employees ordered back under Trump’s return-to-office edict.

Workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been told to flip a coin to decide who gets a desk, thanks to overcrowding after President Donald Trump’s return-to-office edict. Trump issued an executive order on the day of the inauguration telling heads of federal departments and agencies to get workers to come back to the office full-time, after previously threatening workers would be fired if they didn’t. Many federal agencies reduced their office space in the pandemic, leading to a lack of space for employees to work. Managers at FEMA, where there is reportedly only enough desks for 60 percent of the staff, have shared guidance telling staff to consider seniority and full- or part-time status when allocating seats, according to The Bulwark. Or, if that doesn’t work, staff should toss a coin to decide who gets the contested desk. Trump has previously said he’d like to abolish the emergency response agency entirely and toss its funding to states.