Sponsors (2)
Official title: Amend title 5, United States Code, to address telework for Federal employees, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 13, 2025 by James Lankford · Last progress January 13, 2025
The bill expands and standardizes federal telework authorities and creates noncompetitive remote-hiring pathways for veterans and military/law-enforcement spouses—improving flexibility and targeted hiring opportunities—while imposing new administrative costs, preserving agency discretion that may cause unequal treatment, and creating trade-offs between streamlined hiring and competitive merit selection.
Federal employees gain broader ability to work full-time or routinely from approved remote worksites, increasing schedule flexibility and work–life balance.
Agencies get clearer, standardized rules, guidance, and oversight (OPM regulations, required reviews, training, surveys, public webpages) that make telework policies more consistent and easier to implement.
Qualified veterans and spouses of service members (and, in a pilot, spouses of law enforcement officers) gain expanded noncompetitive paths to remote federal jobs, improving hiring opportunities for those groups.
Many decisions (approved worksites, geographic boundaries, travel reimbursements) remain at agency heads' discretion, risking inconsistent treatment of employees across agencies.
New reporting, surveys, monthly OMB reports, manager training, and systems to confirm worksite compliance create recurring administrative burdens and implementation costs for agencies (ultimately borne by taxpayers).
Employees who telework from locations within 75 miles may not be reimbursed for travel to the agency worksite, increasing commuting costs for some remote workers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Standardizes telework definitions and oversight, requires annual time-limited telework agreements, limits remote work for misconduct/performance, and permits noncompetitive remote hires for certain veterans and spouses with a 7‑year law‑enforcement spouse pilot.
Rewrites and expands federal telework rules: it defines new terms for telework and remote work, requires agencies to adopt and annually review time-limited telework agreements, and allows agencies to restrict or suspend telework for performance or misconduct issues. It also creates hiring flexibility for remote-only positions by permitting noncompetitive appointments for qualified covered veterans and certain military spouses, and establishes a 7-year pilot to allow noncompetitive appointments for spouses of law enforcement officers, with OPM reporting requirements and a 180-day regulatory deadline.