IFPTE Tells Congress to Reject Legislation that Attacks Locality Pay and Telework, Ignoring Actual Pay Issues that Need Attention
In response to legislation introduced in the House of Representatives that proposes to eliminate locality pay for federal employees who telework or work remotely, IFPTE told lawmakers that not only is this bill deeply misguided, it attempts to worsen non-competitive federal pay and harm recruitment and retention across federal agencies.
The legislation, erroneously titled “The Federal Return to Work Act, H.R. 10014, is sponsored by Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and is a companion to the Senate bill of the same name sponsored by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA). IFPTE’s letter notes, “The bill sponsors’ perspective also fails to consider that the federal government has offered telework for over three decades and that federal employees are serving the public and their agency’s mission whether they show up for work in the office, in an alternative worksite, or at a remote worksite. Over that time, federal telework arrangements, policies, practices, and technologies have matured, and federal agencies have proven effective and productive when they agree to allow employees to work at alternative or remote worksites.”
The letter also makes clear that Congress needs to tackle the pay disparity between federal and private sector pay and shares that “We know full well that highly qualified federal workers are leaving for better pay in the private sector and agencies must contend with offering potential hires lower pay than they’d earn elsewhere.”