Number: 111- 64
Date: December 10, 2010

On December 9, 2010, the President signed into law H.R. 1722, the “Telework Enhancement Act of 2010,” which became Public Law 111-292.  The new law contains provisions of interest as described below (and as previously described in Legislative Bulletin 111-58).

Provisions of interest to SSA:

Executive Agencies Telework Requirement

• Requires the head of each executive agency, in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to establish a teleworking policy within 180 days of enactment; determine the eligibility of all employees of the agency to participate in telework; and notify employees of their eligibility to telework.

• Requires that the telework policy ensure that telework does not diminish employee performance or agency operations; requires a mandatory written agreement outlining the specific work arrangement that is agreed to between management and employee; and, provides that an employee may not be authorized to telework if performance of that employee does not comply with the terms of the written agreement between management and employee.

• Allows agencies to temporarily deny permission to telework if, in the judgment of the agency head, the employee is needed to respond to an emergency.

• Prohibits an employee from teleworking if the employee has:
  
  
  • Been officially disciplined for being absent without permission for more than five days in a calendar year; or
    
  • Been officially disciplined for viewing, downloading, or exchanging pornography including child pornography, on a Federal Government computer or while performing official Federal Government duties.

Training and Monitoring

• Requires the head of each executive agency to:
  
  • Provide an interactive training program, that includes information security guidelines, for supervisors, managers, and all employees who are authorized to telework; 
    
  • Incorporate telework in agency continuity of operations plans and use telework in response to emergencies; and,
    
  • Make no distinction between teleworkers and non-teleworkers for the purposes of periodic appraisals of job performance; training, rewarding, reassigning, promoting, reducing in grade, retaining, and removing employees.

Policy and Support

• Requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), within 120 days of enactment, to issue policy guidance regarding the purchase of computer systems by agencies that enable and support telework. 

• Requires that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provide policy guidance for telework in the areas of pay and leave, agency closure, performance management, official worksite, recruitment and retention, and accommodations for employees with disabilities. 

• Requires OMB, in coordination with the  Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to issue guidelines, not later than 180 days after enactment, that ensure the adequacy of information and security protections for information and information systems used in, or otherwise affected by, teleworking.   

Telework Managing Officer

• Creates in each agency a Telework Managing Officer, designated by the agency’s Chief Human Capital Officer, who serves as the primary resource and point of contact in developing and implementing a plan to incorporate telework into the agency's regular business and continuity of operations’ strategies. 

• Requires each Telework Managing Officer to provide telework program information to OPM and the Government Accountability Office in order for them to prepare annual reports to Congress.  Information will include techniques used to verify and validate telework data and numbers on denials of permission to telework.

Reports

• Requires on an annual basis the Chief Human Capital Officer of the agency in consultation with the Telework Managing Officer of the agency to submit a report to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council on agency management efforts to promote telework. 

Effective Date

• The provisions are effective upon enactment.