Employer 2009

Last week the House of Representatives passed HR 1722, the Federal Telework Improvements ACT. The House passed the telework bill (H.R. 1722) on July 14 with a bipartisan vote of 290-131—gaining 22 more votes from the previous vote in May.

If it should become law, the bipartisan bill would:

• Instruct the Office of Personnel Management to develop a uniform, government-wide telework policy for federal employees;
• Strengthen the federal government’s capacity to effectively integrate telework into Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP).
• Designate one person as a Telework Managing Officer within every agency;
• Provide telework training and education to both employees and supervisors;
• Require the Office of Personnel Management to compile government-wide data on telework; and
• Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate agency compliance and produce an annual report to Congress that is publicly available on the internet.

The bill requires each executive agency to establish a policy under which employees may be authorized to telework to the maximum extent possible without diminishing employee performance or agency operations.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), General Service Administration (GSA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will provide oversight and management support to Federal agencies. 

Next, either the Senate accepts the House legislation or the legislation goes before a House-Senate conference committee to resolve the differences between the two bills.