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TO: 

FROM: 

SUBJECT: 

DATE:

State Service Commissions and AmeriCorps State and National grantees 

Jennifer Bastress Tahmasebi 

Acting Director, AmeriCorps State and National 

2017.01: AmeriCorps State and National Guidance - Teleservice 

19 January 2017 

Telework has become increasingly popular across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. CNCS’s OIG has 

recommended that AmeriCorps State and National provide grantees and/or subgrantees with guidance on AmeriCorps 

members who request to perform their service remotely (teleservice). Members requesting teleservice arrangements 

under the auspices of reasonable accommodation of a disability are excluded from this policy, as those requests are 

covered under other laws and policies.

This guidance should not be taken as a change in AmeriCorps State and National’s position that members should 

generally be providing service directly to the people and in the communities where they serve rather than performing 

service remotely. Therefore, teleservice should be rare, if ever, and involve appropriate documentation, supervision and 

oversight. 

The following guidance is provided for those unique situations in which a grantee determines that teleservice is 

appropriate or when a small number of a member’s service hours can properly be accrued through teleservice. Teleservice 

is appropriate only when the activity can be meaningfully supervised and the hours verified independently. If a grantee 

or subgrantee determines that its AmeriCorps members will be allowed to teleserve, the grantee must establish a policy

that addresses the following:

• Written authorization of teleservice in advance

• Expectations of the communication requirements between supervisors and teleserving members

• Mitigation of the increased risk of time and attendance abuse

• Appropriate supervision including validation of the activities to be performed, and

• Verification of hours claimed.

Further, the grantee should consider updating its insurance coverage to address legal liability attribution (for the grantee 

or teleserving member) for incidents that occur during teleservice.

Grantee or subgrantees should be aware that their staff may be subject to legal sanctions for erroneously certifying that 

AmeriCorps members have sufficient valid service hours to complete their terms of service. In addition there are legal 

Title: AmeriCorps State and National Guidance Teleservice Guidance 

Date issued: January 19, 2017 

Date posted: February 28, 2020 

Unique identifier: ASN 006 

Topic: AmeriCorps Members and Teleservice 

Summary: This is guidance on AmeriCorps Members and teleservice.

The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only 

to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies. 
NationalService.gov

penalties for knowingly submitting false claims to the government. 

Please distribute, as appropriate, to your subgrantees and/or operating sites and/or service site locations and/or other 

interested parties.