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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would set new limits on telework for federal employees. In general, it would stop most federal workers from teleworking more than 40% of their workdays in a pay period. Each agency would have to review telework arrangements every year, approve them each year, and keep track of employees while they are working remotely. Agency leaders could also set stricter limits for some jobs or waive the limit in certain cases, such as for some military or law enforcement spouses, jobs that need special skills or frequent travel, hard-to-fill positions, or times when bad weather or other emergencies keep workers from getting to the office. The bill would also affect pay for employees covered by telework agreements and would require agencies to report each year on telework use, productivity, problems, and any impacts on security, morale, costs, fraud, or waste.
- Federal employees could not telework more than 40% of their workdays in each pay period unless an exception applies.
- Agencies would have to review telework agreements every year and get yearly approval from the agency head.
- Agencies would be required to monitor teleworkers using remote tools and other suitable methods.
- Employees under telework agreements would not be eligible for pay raises under one section of law, and their locality pay would be set at the “Rest of United States” level.
- Agency heads could further limit telework for certain roles, such as jobs involving classified information, new employees, or managers.
- Some workers could get a waiver, including spouses of service members or federal law enforcement officers, people in highly specialized or travel-heavy jobs, workers in hard-to-fill positions, and workers blocked by weather or emergencies.
- Each agency would have to send Congress a yearly report on telework productivity, barriers to enforcing the limit, negative effects, and responses to Inspector General findings.
- The Government Accountability Office would also review those reports and assess whether they are accurate and complete.
Official Summaries
Back to Work Act
This bill limits federal agency employees' telework to up to 40% of the work days in any pay period and eliminates certain pay increases for teleworking employees.
Under current law, executive agencies must maintain policies detailing how their employees may work remotely and enter into telework agreements with participating employees. The bill requires telework agreements to cap employees' telework at 40% of the work days in a pay period, specify that the agency will monitor employees' telework via remote technical methods, and make telework subject to annual review by the agency. The bill also eliminates locality-based and automatic annual pay adjustments for employees with telework agreements.
The bill authorizes agencies to further restrict the amount of telework permitted based on an employee's specific role or other circumstances (e.g., working with classified information). Agencies may also waive the limitation for inclement weather or exigent circumstances or for an employee who (1) is married to a member of the Armed Forces or federal law enforcement officer; (2) holds a position requiring highly specialized experience or frequent travel; or (3) holds a position that is difficult to fill.
Additionally, the bill requires annual agency reports to Congress describing the effectiveness of agency telework policies. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the accuracy and thoroughness of each report in an accompanying report to Congress.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 357 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 357
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide limitations on Federal
teleworking, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 13, 2025
Mr. Nunn of Iowa (for himself and Mr. Newhouse) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide limitations on Federal
teleworking, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Back to Work Act''.
SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF TELEWORK REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.
(a) In General.--Chapter 65 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in section 6502--
(A) in subsection (b)(2)--
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking
``and'' at the end; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) provides that, subject to subsection (d), an
employee may not telework for more than 40 percent of
the work days of the employee per pay period;
``(D) shall be reviewed on an annual basis by, and
be subject to the annual approval of, the head of the
executive agency; and
``(E) provides that the executive agency, by using
remote technical means and other appropriate methods,
will monitor and evaluate the applicable employee when
the employee is engaged in telework;''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Adjustments to the Permitted Number of Telework Days.--With
respect to the limitation under subsection (b)(2)(C), the head of an
executive agency may--
``(1) further limit the number of work days per pay period
that an employee of the executive agency may telework based on
the specific role of the employee or other circumstances
determined appropriate by the head of the executive agency,
including--
``(A) the frequency with which the employee needs
to access classified information;
``(B) whether the employee is newly appointed; and
``(C) whether the employee occupies a managerial
position within the executive agency; or
``(2) waive that limitation with respect to an employee of
the executive agency if--
``(A) the employee is a spouse of--
``(i) a member of the Armed Forces; or
``(ii) a Federal law enforcement officer;
``(B) the employee occupies a position--
``(i) the duties of which require--
``(I) highly specialized expertise;
or
``(II) frequent travel; or
``(ii) for which finding qualified
candidates is challenging; or
``(C) inclement weather or other exigent
circumstances prevent the employee from reaching the
worksite of the employee during a pay period.
``(e) Limitations on Pay.--With respect to any employee who has
entered into a written agreement under subsection (b)(2), and
notwithstanding any other provision of this title, such employee
shall--
``(1) not be eligible for any adjustment to pay under
section 5303; and
``(2) receive locality-based comparability payments under
section 5304 or 5304a at the percentage for the Rest of United
States locality pay area.''; and
(2) in section 6506, by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Executive Agency Reports.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the head
of each executive agency shall submit to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House
of Representatives a report that describes, for the period
covered by the report, the following:
``(A) What metrics and methods the executive agency
uses to determine the productivity of employees who
telework.
``(B) What barriers, if any, prevent the executive
agency from enforcing the limitation under section
6502(b)(2)(C) and any initiatives of the executive
agency to address those barriers.
``(C) Any negative effects of telework, including
whether telework results in increased costs, security
vulnerabilities, lower employee morale, decreased
employee productivity, or waste, fraud, or abuse.
``(D) Any actions taken by the executive agency (or
a detailed justification for any lack of action) in
response to any findings of, or recommendations made
by, the Inspector General of the executive agency with
respect to telework.
``(2) GAO report.--With respect to each report submitted by
the head of an executive agency under paragraph (1), the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit an
accompanying report that evaluates the accuracy and
thoroughness of the report submitted by the head of the
executive agency with respect to the matters required to be
included in the report of the executive agency under that
paragraph.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act.
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