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HR 236
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Federal Employee Return to Work Act

To prohibit certain telework employees from receiving certain annual adjustments to pay schedules, and for other purposes.

Introduced Jan 7, 2025

Latest action (Jan 7, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Referred to
Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Policy area
Government Operations and Politics
Issues
Labor & Wages
Legislative subjects (3)
CommutingComputers and information technologyGovernment employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Summary

This bill prohibits federal employees who telework at least one day per week from receiving annual pay adjustments. Instead, teleworking employees must be paid at the fixed "Rest of U.S." locality pay rate, which applies to employees in areas outside major metropolitan centers. This pay rate is frozen as of the date the employee becomes a teleworker and will not be adjusted in future years. The bill excludes certain employees, including those with disabilities receiving accommodations, Foreign Service members, federal law enforcement officers, and active duty military members. The restrictions take effect on the first day of the first full fiscal year after the bill is enacted.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
21 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Jan 7, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. · house
  2. Jan 7, 2025 Introduced in House

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

  • S 1071 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (shares 3 subjects)
  • HR 5304 — Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 (shares 3 subjects)
  • HR 1280 — DRAIN THE SWAMP Act (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 354 — SHOW UP Act of 2025 (shares 3 subjects)
  • HR 473 — SHOW UP Act of 2025 (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 82 — Telework Reform Act of 2025 (shares 3 subjects)
  • HR 357 — Back to Work Act (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 21 — REMOTE Act (shares 3 subjects)

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • S 27 — Federal Employee Return to Work Act · Introduced Jan 7, 2025 · Cong. 119 82%
  • HR 107 — Return to Work Act · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Cong. 119 75%
  • HR 2906 — SERVICE Act · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%
  • HR 357 — Back to Work Act · Introduced Jan 13, 2025 · Cong. 119 64%
  • HR 3093 — REHIRE Act · Introduced Apr 30, 2025 · Cong. 119 63%
  • HR 5599 — To prohibit the removal of Federal employees during any lapse in discretionary appropriations, and for other purposes. · Introduced Sep 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 62%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Jan 7, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 7, 2025

Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Meuser, Mr. Weber of Texas, Ms. Boebert, Mr. Timmons, Mr. Ellzey, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Collins, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Finstad, and Mr. Fleischmann) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

A BILL

To prohibit certain telework employees from receiving certain annual adjustments to pay schedules, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Federal Employee Return to Work Act”.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) Covered employee.—The term “covered employee”—

(A) means an employee who teleworks not fewer than 1 day, or in the case of an alternative work schedule, not less than 20 percent, a week; and

(B) does not include an employee who—

(i) teleworks not fewer than 1 day a week; and

(ii) is—

(I) is disabled and receives reasonable accommodations;

(II) a member of the Foreign Service of the United States;

(III) a Federal law enforcement officer;

(IV) a member of the Armed Forces on active duty; or

(V) any other employee, the official worksite of whom is not described in section 531.605(a)(1) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding similar regulation or ruling).

(2) Employee.—The term “employee” has the meaning given the term in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code.

(3) Telework.—The term “telework” has the meaning given the term in section 6501 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS TO PAY SCHEDULES.

No covered employee may receive an annual adjustment under section 5303 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 4. PAY LOCALITIES.

Each covered employee shall be paid at the rate of basic pay under the applicable grade and step for that employee under the locality pay area designated as “Rest of U.S.”—

(1) as of the date on which the employee becomes a covered employee; and

(2) which shall not be adjusted under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

This Act shall take effect on the first day of the first full fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of this Act. <all>

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