Panel Approves Telework Bill

A House subcommittee on Wednesday approved legislation that would make telework a statutory requirement for every federal agency.

The bill--the 2009 Telework Improvements Act (H.R. 1722)--passed the House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee by unanimous vote. The bill would require federal agencies to expand their telework programs, set benchmarks to monitor their progress and establish a target of 20 percent of the eligible federal workforce teleworking an average of one day per week.

The panel approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., that also would make telework a central element of federal agency's continuity of operations plans in the event of a natural or manmade emergency. Connolly pointed to the recent Office of Personnel Management estimate that the cost of lost productivity during the nearly one-week closure of the federal government due to February's snowstorms was actually $70 million, rather than $120 million, per day, because more workers teleworked from home than was anticipated. "The back-to-back blizzards were a great reminder for everybody how telework can work and should work," Connolly said.

OPM has said that about 102,900 federal employees nationwide teleworked in fiscal 2009. The agency has set a goal to increase that figure by at least 50 percent by fiscal 2011.

The subcommittee also approved a bill that would allow federal employees to deposit the value of their unused annual leave into their Thrift Savings Plan accounts and legislation that would provide OPM with more oversight of companies that negotiate prescription drug prices for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.