WASHINGTON — There’s a push in Congress to get more workers back into the office by affecting their pay if they work from home.
Earlier this year, we told you about a Senate bill to do this and now there is a new version of this proposal in the House. It would ban federal workers from getting locality pay if they telework at least once a week.
Channel 2 Washington Correspondent Samantha Manning spoke to an attorney about what the Federal Return to Work Act could mean for teleworkers.
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Right now, federal employees get pay increases, or locality pay, if they live in areas with high cost of living, such as Washington, the nation’s capital.
The Federal Return to Work Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate, and now the U.S. House of Representatives, by Republican lawmakers who way the higher pay should be cut if federal employees work one day a week or more from home.
Lawmakers behind the legislation said 17 of 24 of the federal agencies only used about 25% of their headquarters’ workspace capacity in 2024, saying taxpayer dollars are wasted on rent and teleworking.
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“Physically showing up to work is important,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said previously.
The lawmakers also said that six federal agencies had an average of 91% space vacancy, even while employees received 16% bonuses for the cost of living.
However, critics argue the proposal would unfairly punish high-performing employees that work from home.
“It may cause workers to then leave the federal government and seek other job opportunities that provide that higher pay,” Michael Fallings, partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC told Channel 2 Action News. “I view this somewhat as a penalty to people that are teleworking.”
Even if the proposal doesn’t pass in U.S. Congress now, the debate isn’t likely to be over this year.
What happens next will likely depend on who wins the 2024 elections in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and the race for president.
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