Good afternoon,
We continue to field questions, conduct training, and see submissions of the DHHS Telework Approval Forms. Many thanks to all of you who have participated to date. As a reminder, you have until next Friday, July 1 to fill out an Approval Form to seek approval to continue teleworking after September 6.
Starting today, supervisors will begin reviewing the Approval Forms. We posted slides that give supervisors guidance on how to do so on the Office Re-entry Planning for DHHS site. Our OpEx team has conducted webinars for all offices. And, supervisors might want to brush up on the DHHS Telework Policy to guide decisions.
You will get an email notification once your supervisor has concluded the review. If your request has been approved, the email notification will include a copy of your DHHS Telework Approval Form.
If your request has been denied, you will receive an email notification including the reason for the denial. In some cases, that email will indicate that it could be approved with adjustments. You will have the option of submitting a new form with those adjustments (the system does not allow you to return to the previously submitted form to make changes). If you disagree with your supervisor’s suggested adjustments or denial, you may request a reconsideration from your Office’s appointing official or designee. A request for reconsideration should be made within 10 business days of the initial determination.
We have given supervisors a deadline of July 29 to finish their work, so we can use the month of August to prepare for September.
As a reminder, for tracking purposes, we encourage all eligible workers to fill out the DHHS Telework Approval Form, even if you are not interested in this option. If you have questions on the policy, please send them to: employeequestions.dhhs@maine.gov. And if you have questions on the Form, please send them to opex.dhhs@maine.gov.