Plain Language Summary
# REMOTE Act Summary The REMOTE Act (Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act) would require federal agencies to monitor and track computer usage patterns for all government employees. Specifically, agencies would need to record daily login frequencies, how long employees stay connected to the network, and the amount of data traffic generated by each worker. This data would be collected from on-site employees within six months and from remote workers within one year of the bill becoming law. The bill primarily affects federal government employees and the agencies that employ them. Its stated purpose is to compare productivity metrics between remote and in-office workers and identify any performance gaps. Agencies would be required to publish comparative data in their budget documents, showing differences in login rates and other activity metrics between teleworking and on-site employees.
The bill would also give managers the ability to take action based on identified deficiencies, though the text provided doesn't specify what those actions would be. Currently, the bill (S. 21) is in committee and has not been voted on. It was introduced in the 119th Congress by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). The proposal touches on broader debates about federal workforce management and remote work policies that have become increasingly relevant since the COVID-19 pandemic expanded telework options government-wide.
CRS Official Summary
Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act or the REMOTE ActThis bill directs executive agencies to track employees' computer network activity, compare the activity of teleworking and on-site employees, and report on any deficiencies in the performance of teleworking employees.First, the bill requires each agency to establish policies to track for every employee (1) the average number of daily logins, (2) the average daily duration of the network connection, and (3) the network traffic generated while the employee works. This information must be collected from employees working primarily on-site within 180 days after the bill's enactment and from teleworking employees within one year after the bill's enactment. The bill also directs each agency to publish this data in the agency’s fiscal year budget justification materials, including a comparison of the average login rates of on-site and teleworking employees.Next, the bill directs any manager who revokes a teleworking employee's authorization to telework (due to a reason specific to that employee) to document for the employee and the agency's Human Capital Office (1) the total number of days that the employee teleworked in the six work periods immediately preceding the revocation, (2) a narrative summary of the circumstances giving rise to the revocation, and (3) any steps the manager took to discipline the employee before revoking the employee's telework authorization. Finally, agencies must report to the Chief Human Capital Officers Council about any adverse effects of telework policies on the performance of the executive agency.
Latest Action
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.