Ernst, Peters Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Oversight of Federal Telework
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced bipartisan legislation to increase transparency of federal telework policies.
Following maximized federal employee use of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, the senators’ bill would require agencies to gather quality data on how telework impacts agency performance and federal property decisions. This would create more accountability for serving Americans and save billions of taxpayer dollars.
“For too long, Americans have been on hold while bureaucrats phone it in,” Ernst said. “Since ‘temporary’ telework policies went into effect over four years ago, the remote lifestyle comes at the expense of the people federal agencies are meant to serve. My bipartisan bill will provide full transparency into the inefficiencies of telework, so taxpayers are no longer on the hook for expensive wasted space at federal headquarters and misspent locality pay.”
“Federal agencies must track and consider the impact of telework on their ability to deliver services, recruit and retain talent, and ensure office operations are cost-efficient,” Peters said. “My bipartisan bill will require agencies to gather accurate data on telework policies to provide more transparency and help ensure federal agencies are effectively carrying out their missions for the American people.”
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) currently publishes an annual report on agency telework practices, but the data is over a year old by the time it is reported. In addition, agencies have a hard time collecting accurate and consistent data on telework, as OPM notes in its most recent telework report for Fiscal Year 2022.
- Requiring agencies to make policies publicly available online;
- Establishing automated systems to track employee use of telework at each agency;
- Mandating periodic audits to determine if agencies are doing enough to verify teleworking employees are getting paid the correct locality-based pay;
- Monitoring office building utilization and the effects of telework on agency performance, including customer service, backlogs and wait times, cost to operations, security, management of property, technology investments, and recruitment and retention; and
- Directing OPM to establish quality data standards and compile the data in a centralized location to ensure transparency for the American people.
Background:
Since August 2023, Ernst has been demanding investigations into 24 federal departments and agencies to determine the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services. Following her advocacy, the GSA announced it would downsize 3.5 million square feet of federal buildings, which would save taxpayers over $1 billion.
In December 2023, Ernst exposed that, almost four years after COVID-19 temporarily closed federal buildings, not a single government agency was utilizing even half the office space in their headquarters.
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