This week, EPA employees received a welcomed surprise in their email inboxes — a message from the agency saying they could work from home full time if they believed their or their family's health was at risk. But that reversal from EPA leadership was a ruse, a phishing test sent to gauge cybersecurity defenses, and there was no change in policy. EPA employees are angered and frustrated by the email, saying it shows the agency leadership's low regard for its own staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. "It was really upsetting to me and many of my co-workers," one EPA employee told E&E News, noting their colleagues "felt like the agency was making a mockery of what we have all earnestly been asking for months now." The employee added, "It was a slap in the face when morale is already at an all-time low." EPA said it would not repeat such a test in the future. "This phishing test did not go through the proper approval procedures. The agency has already implemented procedural changes that will deter this from happening again," EPA spokesman James Hewitt told E&E News.
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