Senate Panel Passes Telework Reform Bill, Fierce Debate over Monitoring Employees

The debate over telework for federal employees roared back to life on Capitol Hill, as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a meeting to review telework legislation, along with other priorities.  

The Telework Reform Act (S. 3015), passed the committee on a 9-2 vote. The legislation codifies telework and remote work into law. It uses the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) definitions for both. Telework is defined as requiring workers to commute to a traditional worksite at least twice per pay period. Remote work is defined as a scenario when employees rarely need to work from federal facilities.

It also puts forth a string of requirements on telework including:

·      Telework/remote work agreements between agencies and employees must be renewed on an annual basis. That review includes deciding whether agency needs have changed.

·      Employees must take telework training every year.

·      Requires biannual surveys on telework usage.

·      Requires an annual review of telework guidelines by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

·      Gives federal agencies the ability to hire veterans and military spouses for remote positions outside of the competitive hiring process.

The legislation now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Co-sponsor Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) said the bill is about “expanding economic opportunities and cutting costs.”

Tension Builds Over Plans to Monitor Work-From-Home

The discussion wasn’t so easy on the Telework Transparency Act (S. 4043).

The legislation, co-sponsored by committee chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), would require federal agencies to make telework data public, measure telework’s impact on federal office space, and better monitor the impact of telework on agency performance, recruitment, and retention.

Discussion over the bill escalated into a partisan debate and a vote was tabled after a proposed amendment from Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT). That amendment would require supervisors to “monitor” teleworkers to ensure they are “doing something.”

“I can’t imagine a private sector employer having large numbers, in our case thousands upon thousands of workers, and not in some way monitoring what they’re doing and what they’re accomplishing,” said Senator Romney.

That position was echoed by other Republicans on the committee, who proceeded to lob unsubstantiated claims at teleworkers.

“It’s very difficult to think anybody working from home is actually going to do their job,” said Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), ranking member on the committee.

“I’m just against it (telework) overall at the government level,” said Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS). “I don’t think that there’s anyway that these folks are accountable.”

Democrats took a different approach.

“Painting all public employees with this broad negative brush is unfortunate,” said Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) who said she finds it “hard to believe that we have to micromanage accountability here.”

Senators Peters (D-MI) said that while he agrees with the general concept of Senator Romney’s amendment, he wants to ensure legislation is written with safeguards in place.

“I think without proper guardrails, it could result in employers misusing this authority and infringing on privacy and civil rights,” said Senator Peters.