Back to Work Act

This bill limits federal agency employees' telework to up to 40% of the work days in any pay period and eliminates certain pay increases for teleworking employees.

Under current law, executive agencies must maintain policies detailing how their employees may work remotely and enter into telework agreements with participating employees. The bill requires telework agreements to cap employees' telework at 40% of the work days in a pay period, specify that the agency will monitor employees' telework via remote technical methods, and make telework subject to annual review by the agency. The bill also eliminates locality-based and automatic annual pay adjustments for employees with telework agreements.

The bill authorizes agencies to further restrict the amount of telework permitted based on an employee's specific role or other circumstances (e.g., working with classified information). Agencies may also waive the limitation for inclement weather or exigent circumstances or for an employee who (1) is married to a member of the Armed Forces or federal law enforcement officer; (2) holds a position requiring highly specialized experience or frequent travel; or (3) holds a position that is difficult to fill.

Additionally, the bill requires annual agency reports to Congress describing the effectiveness of agency telework policies. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the accuracy and thoroughness of each report in an accompanying report to Congress.

Summary by the Congressional Research Service.