Coronavirus: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Mon Jan 16 18:59:31 PST 2023


Your Worthless Govts, Milking the Clock, Stealing from you to pay
themselves for it


House GOP Bill Would Order Federal Workers Back To Office

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SHOWUPAct.Comer_.HR139-1.pdf
https://comer.house.gov/press-release?ID=EBC6D644-1BF2-41AC-B584-D0B43B0D1609
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2022/11/survey-as-agencies-turn-to-hybrid-work-many-feds-want-more-remote-options/
https://www.federalpay.org/gs/locality

House Republicans have introduced a bill that would command legions of
federal employees to stop teleworking and return to the office.

The Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act — or “SHOW
UP Act” — was introduced by Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who chairs the
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

    "Americans have suffered from the federal government’s detrimental
pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats," said Comer.
"President Biden’s unnecessary expansion of telework crippled the
ability of departments and agencies to fulfill their responsibilities
and created cumbersome backlogs."

The bill gives federal employees who worked in person prior to the
pandemic 30 days to get back to the office. A November Federal News
Network survey found that 60% of feds were working in a "hybrid"
environment, with a third working entirely remotely.
Kentucky Rep. James Comer says it's time for federal employees to
return to their offices (Tom Williams/Pool via AP and WBKO)

Comer says Oversight Committee members have received whistleblower
reports indicating that General Service Administration's (GSA) chief
Robin Carnahan has spent the majority of her time away from
Washington, DC.

The SHOW UP Act would also direct federal agencies to study the impact
of tele-work on their missions and report their findings to Congress.
"The federal government’s expansion of telework during the pandemic
has delayed critical assistance to veterans, tax refunds, passport
applications, and other basic services," said Comer's office.

Agencies would also have to provide data on locality pay received by
federal employees -- who may not actually be spending much time in
that locality at all.

Locality pay is a substantial layer of compensation that's added to
federal employees' base pay. As the name implies, it varies depending
on where the job is located. The 2022 default locality pay for areas
of the country without a customized percentage was 16.5% of base pay.

However, in Washington DC, it's a whopping 32.49% of base pay. For
2003, employees in the DC locality received one of the largest
locality-pay hikes: 4.86%.

The SHOW UP Act alludes to an important question: How many purported
Washington DC federal employees are receiving enormous locality pay
while living somewhere else and phoning it in? That question isn't
only relevant for DC: The same dynamic would apply federal employees
in other localities who've left the big city to go live cheap
somewhere else and only visit the office when required.

In 2021, the federal Office of Personnel Management said employees in
"remote work" arrangements -- a permanent arrangement with no
expectation of coming to the office -- should receive locality pay
based on their remote location.

Things get murkier, though, where flexible "telework" is concerned.
Telework usually requires reporting in-person twice every two
weeks...unless that requirement is waived. Teleworking feds' locality
pay is determined by the office location, not their home.

To that point, the SHOW UP Act says agencies must analyze costs
attributable to "paying higher rates of locality pay to teleworking
employees as a result of incorrectly classifying such employees as
teleworkers rather than remote workers."
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says empty federal office buildings are hurting
the city (Mayor's office photo)

It isn't just Republicans who are itching to get federal employees out
of their pajamas and back to work. Earlier this month, DC Mayor Muriel
Bowser urged President Biden to kill the liberal telework policies
that have left many office buildings nearly vacant, with corresponding
impacts on the city economy. Otherwise, she wants government offices
repurposed.

The SHOW UP Act, which has no future in a Democrat-controlled Senate,
would bolster her case: It commands agencies to assess the cost of
"owning, leasing or maintaining under-utilized real property."


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