As Senate Committee Debates Federal Telework, IFPTE Weighs In to Protect Negotiated Telework Agreements and to Oppose Arbitrary Policies that Harm Productivity
This week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) considered two bills that would make substantial changes to federal telework law.
S. 4043, the "Telework Transparency Act of 2024,” sponsored by Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK), and S. 3015, the “Telework Reform Act of 2023,” sponsored by HSGAC Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). Sen. Sinema and Sen. Lankford are Chair and Ranking Member of HSGAC’s Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management.
IFPTE staff and IFPTE Locals, including the Association of Administrative Law Judges/IFPTE Judicial Council 1, weighed in with Senator Sinema and Senator Lankford on the Telework Reform Act and were able to include language that protects collective bargaining agreements. While the legislation would helpfully codify remote work into law, it includes a targeted expansion of direct hire authority for remote work positions that circumvents competitive hiring principles. The HSGAC will vote to advance the bill out of Committee, and IFPTE expects to make changes to the problematic aspects of the bill before any vote on the Senate floor.
IFPTE also weighed in on the Telework Transparency Act of 2024, legislation that proposes to create numerous metrics and reporting requirements that would not provide an accurate or useful measure of the effects and outcomes of agency telework policy. While Chairman Peters agreed to some IFPTE-supported changes to these provisions, IFPTE urged HSGAC Senators to oppose several amendments to the bill that would have added electronic monitoring of federal employees who telework and severely curtailed telework well below levels allowed in the Telework Transparency Act of 2010, which was passed by Congress with clear bipartisan support. After a short but contentious debate between HSGAC Senators, the legislation was not voted on but will be considered at an upcoming Committee markup. IFPTE and other federal unions will be engaging with HSGAC Senators to make sure this bill does not move forward with language that would harm existing telework agreements, upend the Telework Transparency Act of 2010, or undermine civil service protections under Title 5 of the U.S. Code.