Timekeeping guidance for CrowdStrike IT outage 

Chief Administrative Officer's Message

Fred Steckler

Timekeeping guidance for CrowdStrike IT outage

Dear Colleagues,

As you all are aware, more than 8,000 employees were impacted as a result of Friday’s CrowdStrike IT outage, with more than 4,000 remaining to be addressed. We understand the frustration our employees have experienced throughout this global event and appreciate your patience as your colleagues work hard to resolve these issues. There is no global fix; therefore, impacted employees must contact OCIO to set up a repair appointment:

In-person appointments for Alexandria vicinity employees
Virtual appointments for remote/TEAP employees

Please continue to monitor our System 411 page for updates.

Recording time for employees impacted by the IT Issues

The amount of computer system outage time employees may claim will be determined on a case-by-case basis using the guidelines below. Supervisors and managers are in the best position to work with their employees to understand how each of their staff have been individually impacted by the IT issues. Please know that supervisors and managers are being instructed to be flexible in approving outage time to limit negative impacts to employees.

Employees should use PPA code ANTIME-0000-A00131. Further instructions are as follows:

Employees on the Increased Flextime Program (IFP) Schedule, 8-hour flexible or 8-hour fixed schedules who were impacted by the outage may claim up to 8 hours for days they planned/were scheduled to work, including Saturday.
Employees on fixed schedules (e.g. 5/4/9 and 4/10) and part-time schedules may claim up to the number of hours they were scheduled to work.
Employees utilizing the computer outage time may not claim overtime, comp time, or credit hours on days they are claiming computer outage time, with the exception of Sunday as explained below. In addition, employees on the IFP schedule may not use the computer outage time to claim more than 8 hours of regular base pay for the day.
Time spent obtaining a repair appointment or troubleshooting with OCIO to resolve the issue may be charged as outage time.
Those within the 50-mile radius, or who have a regular on-campus reporting requirement, may not normally claim travel time to travel to the office to attend an in-person repair appointment. Please check your individual telework agreement for details.
Sunday:

Employees on IFP who were actively troubleshooting their computer issue with OCIO may claim regular hours (with Sunday premium pay), overtime, comp time, IFP credit hours or regular credit hours for that time.
Employees on IFP who spent time scheduling or attempting to schedule an appointment with OCIO may claim credit hours or IFP credit hours for that time.
Employees on a fixed or compressed schedule should contact OHR at 571-272-6000 for guidance on claiming time on a day they were not scheduled to work including the weekend.

Because employees must be in a duty status to claim computer system outage time, employees on previously approved leave (e.g., annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time, credit hours, etc.) will remain in their current status and may not substitute computer system outage time for leave.

For additional questions on how to record the time, see FAQs or employees may contact the Office of Human Resources, Compensation and Benefits Division at 571-272-6000 orHumanResources_USPTO@USPTO.GOV.

Supplemental information specific to production employees will be forthcoming from their business units.

We appreciate your patience as we continue to work to resolve these issues.