Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB357 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 357
5	5	To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide limitations on Federal
6	6	teleworking, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY13, 2025
9	9	Mr. N
10	10	UNNof Iowa (for himself and Mr. NEWHOUSE) introduced the following
11	11	bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government
12	12	Reform
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide limitations
15	15	on Federal teleworking, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This title may be cited as the ‘‘Back to Work Act’’. 4
20	20	SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF TELEWORK REQUIREMENTS FOR 5
21	21	FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 6
22	22	(a) I
23	23	NGENERAL.—Chapter 65 of title 5, United 7
24	24	States Code, is amended— 8
25	25	(1) in section 6502— 9
26	26	(A) in subsection (b)(2)— 10
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29	29	•HR 357 IH
30	30	(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1
31	31	‘‘and’’ at the end; and 2
32	32	(ii) by adding at the end the fol-3
33	33	lowing: 4
34	34	‘‘(C) provides that, subject to subsection 5
35	35	(d), an employee may not telework for more 6
36	36	than 40 percent of the work days of the em-7
37	37	ployee per pay period; 8
38	38	‘‘(D) shall be reviewed on an annual basis 9
39	39	by, and be subject to the annual approval of, 10
40	40	the head of the executive agency; and 11
41	41	‘‘(E) provides that the executive agency, by 12
42	42	using remote technical means and other appro-13
43	43	priate methods, will monitor and evaluate the 14
44	44	applicable employee when the employee is en-15
45	45	gaged in telework;’’; and 16
46	46	(B) by adding at the end the following: 17
47	47	‘‘(d) A
48	48	DJUSTMENTS TO THE PERMITTEDNUMBER 18
49	49	OFTELEWORKDAYS.—With respect to the limitation 19
50	50	under subsection (b)(2)(C), the head of an executive agen-20
51	51	cy may— 21
52	52	‘‘(1) further limit the number of work days per 22
53	53	pay period that an employee of the executive agency 23
54	54	may telework based on the specific role of the em-24
55	55	ployee or other circumstances determined appro-25
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58	58	•HR 357 IH
59	59	priate by the head of the executive agency, includ-1
60	60	ing— 2
61	61	‘‘(A) the frequency with which the em-3
62	62	ployee needs to access classified information; 4
63	63	‘‘(B) whether the employee is newly ap-5
64	64	pointed; and 6
65	65	‘‘(C) whether the employee occupies a 7
66	66	managerial position within the executive agency; 8
67	67	or 9
68	68	‘‘(2) waive that limitation with respect to an 10
69	69	employee of the executive agency if— 11
70	70	‘‘(A) the employee is a spouse of— 12
71	71	‘‘(i) a member of the Armed Forces; 13
72	72	or 14
73	73	‘‘(ii) a Federal law enforcement offi-15
74	74	cer; 16
75	75	‘‘(B) the employee occupies a position— 17
76	76	‘‘(i) the duties of which require— 18
77	77	‘‘(I) highly specialized expertise; 19
78	78	or 20
79	79	‘‘(II) frequent travel; or 21
80	80	‘‘(ii) for which finding qualified can-22
81	81	didates is challenging; or 23
82	82	‘‘(C) inclement weather or other exigent 24
83	83	circumstances prevent the employee from reach-25
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86	86	•HR 357 IH
87	87	ing the worksite of the employee during a pay 1
88	88	period. 2
89	89	‘‘(e) L
90	90	IMITATIONS ONPAY.—With respect to any em-3
91	91	ployee who has entered into a written agreement under 4
92	92	subsection (b)(2), and notwithstanding any other provision 5
93	93	of this title, such employee shall— 6
94	94	‘‘(1) not be eligible for any adjustment to pay 7
95	95	under section 5303; and 8
96	96	‘‘(2) receive locality-based comparability pay-9
97	97	ments under section 5304 or 5304a at the percent-10
98	98	age for the Rest of United States locality pay area.’’; 11
99	99	and 12
100	100	(2) in section 6506, by adding at the end the 13
101	101	following: 14
102	102	‘‘(e) E
103	103	XECUTIVEAGENCYREPORTS.— 15
104	104	‘‘(1) I
105	105	N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 16
106	106	the date of enactment of this subsection, and annu-17
107	107	ally thereafter, the head of each executive agency 18
108	108	shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu-19
109	109	rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 20
110	110	Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 21
111	111	the House of Representatives a report that de-22
112	112	scribes, for the period covered by the report, the fol-23
113	113	lowing: 24
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117	117	‘‘(A) What metrics and methods the execu-1
118	118	tive agency uses to determine the productivity 2
119	119	of employees who telework. 3
120	120	‘‘(B) What barriers, if any, prevent the ex-4
121	121	ecutive agency from enforcing the limitation 5
122	122	under section 6502(b)(2)(C) and any initiatives 6
123	123	of the executive agency to address those bar-7
124	124	riers. 8
125	125	‘‘(C) Any negative effects of telework, in-9
126	126	cluding whether telework results in increased 10
127	127	costs, security vulnerabilities, lower employee 11
128	128	morale, decreased employee productivity, or 12
129	129	waste, fraud, or abuse. 13
130	130	‘‘(D) Any actions taken by the executive 14
131	131	agency (or a detailed justification for any lack 15
132	132	of action) in response to any findings of, or rec-16
133	133	ommendations made by, the Inspector General 17
134	134	of the executive agency with respect to telework. 18
135	135	‘‘(2) GAO
136	136	REPORT.—With respect to each re-19
137	137	port submitted by the head of an executive agency 20
138	138	under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the 21
139	139	United States shall submit an accompanying report 22
140	140	that evaluates the accuracy and thoroughness of the 23
141	141	report submitted by the head of the executive agency 24
142	142	with respect to the matters required to be included 25
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146	146	in the report of the executive agency under that 1
147	147	paragraph.’’. 2
148	148	(b) E
149	149	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3
150	150	subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 180 4
151	151	days after the date of enactment of this Act. 5
152	152	Æ
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