EPA has issued new guidance for employees confronted with threats or violence on the job.
The new employee guidance, shared with agency employees in an email this week, aims to assist EPA’s supervisors “in helping their employees stay safe and manage the very real threats they may face when performing their jobs in the field,” EPA’s acting Deputy Administrator Jane Nishida told staff in an email Tuesday.
EPA employees — particularly its criminal enforcers — have long been subject to threats on the job as they face off against armed criminals and fugitives. But the new guidance comes as rhetoric against federal employees has escalated and government workers have grown increasingly concerned about their safety.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies are calling for mass firings of civil servants if he retakes office in January. And recent threats against federal emergency response workers in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina have exacerbated fears among some government employees.
