II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3015 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to address telework for Federal 

employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 4, 2023 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to address telework 

for Federal employees, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telework Reform Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TELEWORK AND REMOTE WORK. 

7 (a) AMENDMENTS TO DEFINITIONS.—Section 6501 

8 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) by striking paragraph (3); and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) REMOTE WORK.—The term ‘remote work’, 

2 ‘remotely work’, or ‘remotely working’ refers to a 

3 work flexibility arrangement under which an em4 ployee routinely performs the duties and responsibil5 ities of such employee’s position, and other author6 ized activities, from an approved worksite— 

7 ‘‘(A) other than the location from which 

8 the employee would otherwise work; 

9 ‘‘(B) that may be inside or outside the 

10 local commuting area of the location from 

11 which the employee would otherwise work; and 

12 ‘‘(C) that is typically the residence of the 

13 employee. 

14 ‘‘(4) TELEWORK.—The term ‘telework’ or ‘tele15 working’— 

16 ‘‘(A) refers to a work flexibility arrange17 ment under which an employee performs the 

18 duties and responsibilities of such employee’s 

19 position, and other authorized activities, from 

20 an approved worksite other than the location 

21 from which the employee would otherwise work; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) includes remote work or remotely 

24 working.’’. 


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1 (b) EXECUTIVE AGENCIES TELEWORK REQUIRE2 MENT.—Section 6502(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

5 the end; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) is for a 1-year period; and 

8 ‘‘(D) the agency manager, in consultation 

9 with the supervisor of the applicable employee, 

10 shall review annually to determine whether to 

11 renew the agreement, taking into consider12 ation— 

13 ‘‘(i) whether the scope of the agree14 ment, or the duties of the employee, have 

15 changed; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the performance of the employee; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(iii) the needs of the agency;’’. 

19 (c) TRAINING AND MONITORING.—Section 

20 6503(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

21 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 

23 training on accurate reporting of remote work 

24 and telework usage’’ after ‘‘agency’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(B) all managers and supervisors of tele4 workers and remote workers, which shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) be provided on an annual basis; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(ii) include training on accurate re8 porting of employee remote work and 

9 telework eligibility and participation in 

10 agency time and attendance systems;’’. 

11 (d) POLICY AND SUPPORT.—Section 6504 of title 5, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘per15 formance management,’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘remote 

17 work and telework performance management’’ 

18 before ‘‘measures’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (c)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘guide21 lines not later than’’ and all that follows 

22 through the period at the end and inserting the 

23 following: ‘‘guidelines— 

24 ‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date 

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1 quacy of information and security protections 

2 for information and information systems used 

3 while teleworking; and 

4 ‘‘(B) not later than 180 days after the 

5 date of enactment of the Telework Reform Act 

6 of 2023 to ensure the adequacy of information 

7 and security protections for information and in8 formation systems used while remotely work9 ing.’’; and 

10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The Director of the Office of 

12 Management and Budget, in coordination with the 

13 Department of Homeland Security and the National 

14 Institute of Standards and Technology, shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) perform an annual review of the 

16 guidelines issued under this subsection; and 

17 ‘‘(B) make any updates to the guidelines 

18 issued under this subsection that are deter19 mined to be appropriate as a result of a review 

20 conducted under subparagraph (A).’’. 

21 (e) DUTIES OF TELEWORK MANAGING OFFICER.— 

22 Section 6505(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amend23 ed— 

24 (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

25 the end; 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para2 graph (5); and 

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2)(C), as 

4 amended by paragraph (1) of this subsection, the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(3) issue to employees of the applicable execu7 tive agency a biannual remote work and telework 

8 survey— 

9 ‘‘(A) which shall be designed to evaluate, 

10 at a minimum, the effectiveness of— 

11 ‘‘(i) performance management with 

12 respect to executive agency employees who 

13 participate in the telework program of the 

14 executive agency, as compared to the effec15 tiveness of performance management for 

16 other employees; 

17 ‘‘(ii) strategies for engaging with exec18 utive agency employees while those employ19 ees participate in the telework program of 

20 the executive agency; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) remote work and telework train22 ing for executive agency managers and em23 ployees; and 

24 ‘‘(B) the results of which the Telework 

25 Managing Officer shall submit to the leadership 


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1 of the executive agency, including the Chief 

2 Human Capital Officer of the executive agency; 

3 ‘‘(4) maintain an executive agency remote work 

4 and telework web page that serves as an information 

5 portal for employees of the executive agency who are 

6 seeking information with respect to remote work and 

7 telework policies, contact information for remote 

8 work and telework coordinators, and remote work 

9 and telework training resources; and’’. 

10 (f) OPM REPORTS.—Section 6506 of title 5, United 

11 States Code, is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (b)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking 

14 ‘‘Government Reform’’ and inserting ‘‘Account15 ability’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

18 clause (iii) and inserting the following: 

19 ‘‘(iii) the number and percent of eligi20 ble employees in the agency who are re21 motely working or teleworking— 

22 ‘‘(I) full-time, such that those 

23 employees are not required to report 

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1 ployees would otherwise work on a 

2 regular and recurring basis; 

3 ‘‘(II) 3 or more days per pay pe4 riod; 

5 ‘‘(III) 1 or 2 days per pay period; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(IV) on a situational, episodic, 

8 or short-term basis;’’; and 

9 (ii) in subparagraph (F)— 

10 (I) in clause (v), by inserting 

11 ‘‘and cost savings’’ after ‘‘produc12 tivity’’; and 

13 (II) in clause (vi), by inserting 

14 ‘‘well-being and’’ after ‘‘employee’’; 

15 and 

16 (2) in subsection (c)(1)(A)(ii), by striking 

17 ‘‘Government Reform’’ and inserting ‘‘Account18 ability’’. 

19 (g) REPORTS.— 

20 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

21 terms ‘‘executive agency’’, ‘‘remote work’’, and 

22 ‘‘telework’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

23 section 6501 of title 5, United States Code, as 

24 amended by subsection (a) of this section. 


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1 (2) CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICERS.—Not 

2 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

3 this Act, the Chief Human Capital Officer of each 

4 executive agency shall submit to the Director of the 

5 Office of Personnel Management and Congress a re6 port that contains— 

7 (A) an overview of a process to update cur8 rent (as of the date on which the report is sub9 mitted) remote work and telework eligibility re10 quirements of the executive agency; 

11 (B) recommendations regarding ways in 

12 which to update matters relating to remote 

13 work and telework practices, including practices 

14 relating to core business hours, flexible sched15 ules, performance management, and employee 

16 satisfaction; and 

17 (C) recommended solutions to barriers that 

18 prevent the executive agency from delivering 

19 consistent and reliable data with respect to re20 mote work and telework to the Office of Per21 sonnel Management. 

22 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.—Not later than 1 

23 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

24 head of each executive agency, in coordination with 

25 the Chief Human Capital Officer of the executive 


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1 agency, the Chief Financial Officer of the executive 

2 agency, the Director of the Office of Management 

3 and Budget, and the Administrator of General Serv4 ices, shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

5 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 

6 and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

7 of the House of Representatives a report that identi8 fies— 

9 (A) the potential value that would result 

10 from increasing remote work and other telework 

11 opportunities for employees of particular de12 partments within the executive agency; 

13 (B) which job classifications within the ex14 ecutive agency could benefit from being per15 formed exclusively through remote work; 

16 (C) the ways that the executive agency 

17 could coordinate with the Secretary of Defense 

18 to recruit the spouses of members of the Armed 

19 Forces for positions, the responsibilities of 

20 which are performed through remote work; 

21 (D) expected cost savings as a result of in22 creased remote work and telework by employees 

23 of the executive agency, taking into consider24 ation the fact that the executive agency may 

25 need to reinvest those future cost savings to 


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1 meet increased demands with respect to tech2 nology; 

3 (E) expected productivity outcomes from 

4 the increased use of remote work and telework; 

5 and 

6 (F) cybersecurity and information tech7 nology infrastructure changes necessitated by 

8 the increased use of remote work and telework. 

9 (h) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS.—Not later 

10 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

11 Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall 

12 amend section 531.605(d)(1) of title 5, Code of Federal 

13 Regulations, or any successor regulation— 

14 (1) to provide that the regular worksite of an 

15 employee (where an employee’s work activities are 

16 based) is the employee’s official worksite if the em17 ployee is scheduled to work at least twice each bi18 weekly pay period on a regular basis at the regular 

19 worksite, or within the locality pay area for that 

20 worksite, for the employee’s position of record; and 

21 (2) to eliminate the material in the second sen22 tence of that provision. 

23 SEC. 3. NONCOMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT TO REMOTE 

24 WORK POSITIONS. 

25 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) COMPETITIVE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘com2 petitive service’’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 section 2102 of title 5, United States Code. 

4 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

5 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

6 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

7 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

8 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

9 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

10 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ means an individual occu11 pying a position in the 1801 or 1811 occupational 

12 series, as established by the Director. 

13 (5) REMOTELY WORK.—The term ‘‘remotely 

14 work’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

15 6501 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by 

16 section 2 of this Act. 

17 (6) REMOTE WORK POSITION.—The term ‘‘re18 mote work position’’ means a position in the com19 petitive service in which the individual occupying the 

20 position remotely works. 

21 (7) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

22 meaning given the term in section 2108 of title 5, 

23 United States Code. 

24 (b) REGULATIONS.—Under such regulations as the 

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1 tively appoint, for other than temporary employment, to 

2 a remote work position any of the following individuals, 

3 if the head of that Executive agency determines that the 

4 individual is qualified for the position: 

5 (1) An individual who— 

6 (A) is certified by the Director as having 

7 been a high-performing employee in a former 

8 position in the competitive service; and 

9 (B) has been separated from the former 

10 position described in subparagraph (A) for less 

11 than 6 years. 

12 (2) A veteran. 

13 (3) An individual who is married to a member 

14 of the Armed Forces or to a law enforcement officer. 

Æ 


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