Federal workers lose pay raises if they telework—new bill ties compensation to office presence

What it does

This bill caps federal employee telework at 40% of work days per pay period (about 2 days per week), requires annual agency approval of telework agreements, mandates monitoring of remote workers, and freezes pay raises for teleworking employees—blocking cost-of-living adjustments and limiting locality pay. Agencies can further restrict or waive the cap for specific roles, military spouses, specialized positions, or emergencies. The bill requires annual reporting to Congress on telework productivity and costs.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a hard cap on remote work (40% of days) combined with explicit pay penalties—freezing cost-of-living adjustments and capping locality pay for teleworking employees. This is not merely a telework policy; it is a compensation restriction tied to work location.

What the text implies

• Pay freeze (§ 5303 ineligibility) applies only to teleworking employees, creating a two-tier compensation system within the federal workforce and potentially incentivizing employees to abandon remote work even when operationally sound.
• Locality pay cap (§ 5304/5304a) at 'Rest of United States' rate for all teleworkers regardless of actual work location, effectively reducing compensation for remote workers in high-cost areas (e.g., San Francisco, New York) who may live there.
• Annual agency approval requirement (§ 6502(b)(2)(D)) gives agency heads discretionary power to revoke telework agreements year-to-year, creating job-security uncertainty for employees with caregiving or disability accommodations dependent on remote work.
• Monitoring mandate ('remote technical means and other appropriate methods') lacks specificity on scope, frequency, or employee privacy protections, potentially enabling surveillance of non-work time or personal communications.
• Waiver authority (§ 6502(d)(2)) for military spouses, specialized roles, and 'challenging to fill' positions creates administrative discretion that may be applied inconsistently across agencies and could disadvantage other employee categories (e.g., parents, disabled workers).

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Federal employees who telework face a hard cap on remote work days, mandatory monitoring, and explicit pay penalties—loss of annual pay adjustments and reduced locality pay—creating a financial disincentive to telework. While the bill frames this as productivity enforcement, the operative mechanism is a pay freeze tied to work location, which reduces compensation for a broad class of public employees without evidence-based justification.

Named in the bill

Federal employees (5 U.S.C. § 6502), Executive agency heads, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Comptroller General (GAO), Inspectors General (agency-level)

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.

• Jan 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.