[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4266 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4266

 To amend title 5, United States Code, to address telework for Federal 
                   employees, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 7, 2024

Mr. Romney (for himself and Mr. Manchin) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 5, United States Code, to address telework for Federal 
                   employees, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Back to Work Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. TELEWORK.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 65 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 6502--
                    (A) in subsection (b)(2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) provides that, subject to subsection (d), an 
                employee may not telework for more than 40 percent of 
                the work days of the employee per pay period;
                    ``(D) shall be reviewed on an annual basis by, and 
                be subject to the annual approval of, the head of the 
                executive agency; and
                    ``(E) provides that the executive agency, by using 
                remote technical means and other appropriate methods, 
                will monitor and evaluate the applicable employee when 
                the employee is engaged in telework;''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Adjustments to the Permitted Number of Telework Days.--With 
respect to the limitation under subsection (b)(2)(C), the head of an 
executive agency may--
            ``(1) further limit the number of work days per pay period 
        that an employee of the executive agency may telework based on 
        the specific role of the employee or other circumstances 
        determined appropriate by the head of the executive agency, 
        including--
                    ``(A) the frequency with which the employee needs 
                to access classified information;
                    ``(B) whether the employee is newly appointed; and
                    ``(C) whether the employee occupies a managerial 
                position within the executive agency; or
            ``(2) waive that limitation with respect to an employee of 
        the executive agency if--
                    ``(A) the employee is a spouse of--
                            ``(i) a member of the Armed Forces; or
                            ``(ii) a Federal law enforcement officer;
                    ``(B) the employee occupies a position--
                            ``(i) the duties of which require--
                                    ``(I) highly specialized expertise; 
                                or
                                    ``(II) frequent travel; or
                            ``(ii) for which finding qualified 
                        candidates is challenging; or
                    ``(C) inclement weather or other exigent 
                circumstances prevent the employee from reaching the 
                worksite of the employee during a pay period.''; and
            (2) in section 6506, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Executive Agency Reports.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the head 
        of each executive agency shall submit to the Committee on 
        Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 
        the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of 
        Representatives a report that describes, for the period covered 
        by the report, the following:
                    ``(A) What metrics and methods the executive agency 
                uses to determine the productivity of employees who 
                telework.
                    ``(B) What barriers, if any, prevent the executive 
                agency from enforcing the limitation under section 
                6502(b)(2)(C) and any initiatives of the executive 
                agency to address those barriers.
                    ``(C) Any negative effects of telework, including 
                whether telework results in increased costs, security 
                vulnerabilities, lower employee morale, decreased 
                employee productivity, or waste, fraud, or abuse.
                    ``(D) Any actions taken by the executive agency (or 
                a detailed justification for any lack of action) in 
                response to any findings of, or recommendations made 
                by, the Inspector General of the executive agency with 
                respect to telework.
            ``(2) GAO report.--With respect to each report submitted by 
        the head of an executive agency under paragraph (1), the 
        Comptroller General of the United States shall submit an 
        accompanying report that evaluates the accuracy and 
        thoroughness of the report submitted by the head of the 
        executive agency with respect to the matters required to be 
        included in the report of the executive agency under that 
        paragraph.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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