EXCLUSIVE — Federal employees could be required to return to in-person work and may be barred from utilizing telework policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new bill being introduced in the Senate this week.
Several Republican senators, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), are set to introduce on Thursday the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act, which would require all executive agencies to return to their pre-pandemic remote work policies, according to a copy of the bill that was acquired by the Washington Examiner. If passed, agencies would be required to discontinue the COVID-era policies within 30 days of the bill’s enactment.
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“As the public health emergency officially ends in the United States, so should the pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats,” Blackburn said. “I regularly hear from Tennesseans struggling to get a hold of a federal agency because of the massive backlog created by employees not being in the workplace.”
The legislation would block agencies from permanently expanding telework options unless they submit plans to Congress that have been certified by the Office of Personnel Management. Those plans must include details on how telework improves performance, lowers costs, ensures data and record security, and accelerates federal job creation.
The bill would also require all federal agencies to conduct studies detailing how pandemic telework policies affected job performance and customer service over the last three years. Those reports would be due to Congress within six months.
Blackburn is set to introduce the legislation in the Senate on Tuesday. At least five Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors to the bill, including Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Mike Braun (R-IN).
The bill is identical to another piece of legislation that passed the House in February seeking to end work-from-home policies implemented during the pandemic. It passed the House with a 221-206 vote.
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“It’s illogical that [Veterans Affairs] employees are able to work from a bubble bath, while organizations across the country have safely re-opened,” Blackburn said. “The SHOW UP Act would help restore accountability and productivity within the federal government, and I urge the Senate to promptly join the House in passing it.”
Blackburn’s bill comes one month after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to end the national COVID-19 pandemic emergency. It also coincides with the expiration date of the COVID-19 public health emergency, marking the end of several pandemic-era rules and waivers that had been implemented over the last three years.
