Pet policy feud aired in officewide emails between US Attorney employees
Two employees of a U.S. Attorney’s office bared their fangs on Monday in an email debate over office policy banning pets from the workplace.
Above the Law published the email chain, copied to everyone in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The debate began with an office-wide email from an office administrator that “put a tighter leash” on employees, Above the Law says. Some employees in the Alexandria office continue to bring their pets to work on weekends, she said, violating workplace policy that protects employees with allergies and workers who have to clean up after “accidents.”
That spurred this sarcastic reply from an overworked employee. “I’m here working on the weekend—both days; same as last weekend (the 4th of July weekend)—and your observation is that I have brought my dog to work?!!! You know what? You’re right—neither one of us should have been here, me or my dog. I’ll be sure to follow your advice in the future.”
Here is part of the administrator’s reply: “Thank you for understanding and being thoughtful of my role to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the District employees. … I find your email offensive and insensitive not to mention that it again ignores my frequent requests NOT to send emails of this sort to the entire staff.”
The employee’s response: “If you had any sensitively to the history and culture of this great institution that is EDVA, you would know that this building was named for a great man who brought his dog to work in this very building. His picture—with his dog—hangs in our lobby. …
“And on the subject of useless office-wide emails, I do not need to know where you will be every moment of the day. I do not receive hourly email updates on the whereabouts of our U.S. Attorney, our Criminal Chief, my National Security chief, or even my wife. I do not need them from you—and I doubt many of us do.”
The full exchange is here. A spokesperson for the office did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the ABA Journal.
