Federal Employee Return to Work Act
The Federal Employee Return to Work Act would restrict annual pay increases for a subset of federal employees who telework. Specifically, it prohibits covered employees from receiving annual adjustments to pay schedules under 5 U.S.C. 5303, and requires their base pay to be set at the Rest of U.S. locality rate at the time they become covered. The bill defines who counts as a covered employee based on how often they telework and includes several exceptions (e.g., Foreign Service, federal law enforcement, active-duty military, certain disabled employees, and others whose worksite isn’t within the designated locality). The measure would take effect at the start of the first full fiscal year after enactment. In short, the bill aims to incentivize a return to in-person work by freezing annual general pay increases for a defined group of teleworkers and anchoring their pay to a single locality rate (Rest of U.S.) rather than allowing regular locality-based or across-the-board adjustments.
Key Points
- 1Prohibition on annual pay adjustments: Covered employees may not receive annual adjustments to pay schedules under 5 U.S.C. 5303.
- 2Who is covered: A covered employee teleworks at least 1 day per week (or 20% under an alternate schedule), with specified exceptions for certain categories (e.g., those with accommodations, Foreign Service, federal law enforcement, active-duty military, or other employees whose official worksite isn’t described in the relevant regulations).
- 3Pay rate and locality: Each covered employee must be paid at the Rest of U.S. locality rate for their grade/step as of when they become covered, and that rate shall not be adjusted under 5 U.S.C. 5304.
- 4Effective date: The Act takes effect on the first day of the first full fiscal year after enactment.
- 5Short title: The measure is titled the “Federal Employee Return to Work Act.”