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