By Jose Rascon

A bipartisan pair of senators introduced legislation this week that would limit remote work by Federal employees to 40 per cent per pay period, with some exceptions possible.

The Back to Work Act of 2024 was introduced by Sens. Mitt Romney, R- Utah, and Joe Manchin, W.Va., on May 7.

“It has been nearly a year since President Biden formally ended COVID-19 public health emergency declarations, yet most of our federal office buildings remain empty – wasting millions of taxpayer dollars every day,” Sen. Romney said. “Americans deserve to have a federal workforce that is both present and productive.”

The legislation would give agency heads some flexibility on the 40 per cent limit based on a range of factors including for employees with “highly specialized expertise.”

The 40 per cent limit envisioned by the Senate bill stands in contrast to directions from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Federal agencies to increase in-office work to at least 50 per cent of employees’ hours.

“Our bipartisan legislation would require federal employees to work in the office for a majority of the time, while still allowing reasonable flexibility for telework,” Sen. Romney said.

“Federal employees play an important role in ensuring that the government works for the American people, and it is past time for them to get back into the office to do the work that our constituents expect from their government,” he said.

Additionally, the legislation would require that all Federal agencies to report their productivity metrics and other impacts related to telework.

“I’m proud to introduce the bipartisan Back to Work Act with Senator Romney to require federal employees to work in-person at least 60 per cent of the time,” Sen. Manchin said. “Federal workers have a unique obligation to connect with the citizens they serve, and exclusively remote work hinders this essential collaboration.”

“Local businesses in West Virginia and across the country are also suffering from a lack of consumer traffic during the workdays, which is negatively impacting our local economies,” the senator said. “I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense legislation that brings our society closer to pre-pandemic normalcy.”