While some accountants are wondering why their firms haven’t told them to just work from home until the coronavirus hysteria dies down, the SEC told its employees in Washington, DC, just that in an email yesterday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday asked employees at its D.C. headquarters to stay away from the office because of a potential coronavirus case, becoming the first major federal employer to turn to telework to avoid the spreading virus.
The announcement from the agency, which is charged with monitoring the financial markets, came after a day of turmoil on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling more than 2,000 points. The agency’s notice, which was emailed shortly after 8 p.m., required employees working on the ninth floor of its office to stay home and encouraged all others to do the same.
According to the Washington Post, the SEC said an employee was treated for respiratory symptoms and was told by a physician that they could have COVID-19. That employee hasn’t been at SEC headquarters since March 5, and the agency believes the person was asymptomatic at that time. But how can the SEC know for sure?
Could this SEC employee be one of the hundreds of worshippers of Christ Church in Georgetown who are being asked to self-quarantine after receiving communion from and shaking hands with a church rector who tested positive for coronavirus? Maybe? Who knows.
Meanwhile on Fishbowl …
Stay safe everyone.
Securities and Exchange Commission asks D.C. employees to work from home after coronavirus scare [Washington Post]
Related article
The Coronavirus Panic Is a Perfect Opportunity to Discuss Why We Need Better Work-From-Home Policies
Did you work hard this past busy season? Did you toil away for hours and hours to provide exemplary client service? Did you take one for the team when that creeper client contact wanted to dance at the end-of-the-year party? Great. Well done, good and faithful capital market servant. But guess who still isn’t satisfied? The SEC Chair, 