Management

OPM Issues Additional Coronavirus Guidance, Encouraging Telework, Reduced Travel

The federal government’s HR agency orders all agencies to include telework in contingency plans, and encourages them to reduce “non-essential” travel.

Management

Unions Report No Sign of Telework Flexibilities Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Although both OPM and the CDC have strongly encouraged allowing employees to work remotely to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, several agencies have yet to respond to those recommendations.

Pay & Benefits

Social Security Announces More Telework Cuts

The move comes after Congress directed the agency to reinstate telework in other offices within SSA.

Management

Arbitrator: HHS Violated Labor Laws Implementing Union Contract

In May, the Health and Human Services Department implemented a Federal Service Impasses Panel decision, despite the fact that it was legally required to first negotiate six union contract provisions with the National Treasury Employees Union.

Management

Democratic Senators Urge Social Security to Restore Telework

Lawmakers ask the agency to reconsider its decision to end a 6-year-old pilot program, citing concerns about the burden it places on employees and productivity.

Management

Lawmakers Demand Explanation for Social Security Telework Cuts

Friday marked the final day of a six-year-old telework pilot program for roughly 12,000 employees of the Social Security Administration’s operations agencies, after Commissioner Andrew Saul summarily ended it.

Management

Impasses Panel Gives Rare Win to Union on Telework

Just days after the Social Security Administration announced the impending end of a long-running telework pilot program for operations staff, the panel protected employees in the Office of Hearing Operations from a similar fate.

Pay & Benefits

With Winter Approaching, OPM Reminds Agencies of Closure and Leave Policies

The 2018 decision that employees who can work remotely usually cannot take leave due to a weather event has created a complicated web of rules and exceptions.

Management

Social Security’s Justification for Ending Telework Pilot Doesn’t Add Up

The agency has delayed the end until Nov. 23, but management denied the American Federation of Government Employees’ demand to bargain over implementation.

Pay & Benefits

Social Security Ends Telework Program for 12,000 Employees

Workers in all of the Social Security Administration’s operations components have less than two weeks to find alternate arrangements.

Pay & Benefits

Survey: Five in Six HHS Employees May Consider Leaving if Telework is Restricted

Department has stripped telework provisions from its union contract, and is expected to require employees to commute at least four days per week.

Pay & Benefits

New Guidance Helps Agencies Assess the Value of Work-Life Balance Programs

The federal government is looking to quantify the costs and benefits of programs such as telework. 

Management

Administrative Law Judge Union Accuses Social Security of Bad Faith Bargaining

The agency’s “last best offer” to the union includes a 90% cut to official time, telework limits and removal of language that ensures due process for disability claimants.

Management

Interior Department Announces Modest Cutback to Telework

Beginning next month, front-line employees with telework agreements will be required to report to a physical office once a week, while supervisors will be eligible only for situational telework.

Pay & Benefits

More than Half of D.C.-Area Feds Say Agencies Aren’t Supportive of Telework Amid Metro Closures

Majority of respondents to a GovExec.com/Government Business Council survey report that the temporary shutdown of six Metrorail stations would have at least a moderate impact on their ability to do their jobs.

Workforce

Some Agencies Reluctant to Offer Telework Amid D.C. Metro Disruption

The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to encourage the practice during the summer closures of half a dozen Virginia Metrorail stations.

Tech

'Bring Your Own Device' for Beginners

New guidance will help agencies establish policies on using personal devices for work.