Federal workers who telework one day a week could lose locality pay

[Anonymous]

If there is a RTO 5 day a week mandate, then there should be no snow day telework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they were offering fully remote for a pay cut, I'd think about it.
But nobody is going to take a big pay cut for 1 day of telework. You might get some takers at 3-4 days a telework, but not many.

So this has all the same logistical problems as just mandating everyone be in DC 5 days/week, for which there is no space. The fire marshal will be busy with crowding complaints.

At our agency people will be sitting on the floor in the hall.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, that seems fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather loose locality pay to be able to telework at least one day a week or rather keep locality pay and return to work 5 days a week?

I'd personally go in, because, no joke, the difference is 30k but 90% of my agency is not DC area, we're all 50 states. We hired hundreds of people entirely remotely.

Where do you live that locality pay is less but you can still drive in?

All our employees who were hired entirely remote have always been paid by the location they live not DC pay.

If they are in Detroit they get paid Detroit locality pay not DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!!! Right because someone that teleworks ONCE per week is doing so from Texas.

Did you miss the "at least" part. I have colleagues who are full time teleworkers and live in Texas.

This would hit feds outside of the DMV significantly more.

Not PP, but I think the point is that if it is really targeted at people who do not live in the DMV, then the threshold should be higher than "at least" once per week.

And the people who DO live in the DMV and telework one day per work would be hit a lot harder because they are incurring DC locality expenses, while somebody in rural TX has just been benefitting from something they aren't entitled to.

Wait, I didn’t think fully remote workers got locality pay? My agency is based in DC but we have remote workers all over. My understanding is you get paid based on where you live, not where your headquarters are.

That is how it works which is why this bill is performative

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there is a RTO 5 day a week mandate, then there should be no snow day telework.

At Amazon you are still expected to go in but agree one or the other.

[Anonymous]

Relax. None of this is happening. Come back to this thread in 4 years. Remember I said this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there is a RTO 5 day a week mandate, then there should be no snow day telework.

There won't be snow day telework, or after hours work. And less will get done in person than at home, as was always the case, because of distractions + the new problems of seating everyone in less space.

That said, there could well be no snow days. Closing (vs unscheduled leave) is up to OPM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather loose locality pay to be able to telework at least one day a week or rather keep locality pay and return to work 5 days a week?

I'd personally go in, because, no joke, the difference is 30k but 90% of my agency is not DC area, we're all 50 states. We hired hundreds of people entirely remotely.

Where do you live that locality pay is less but you can still drive in?

All our employees who were hired entirely remote have always been paid by the location they live not DC pay.

If they are in Detroit they get paid Detroit locality pay not DC.

If they're saying removing locality pay from anyone who teleworks to base pay, people who didn't drive in and those who work remotely in higher cost of living areas would.lose money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!!! Right because someone that teleworks ONCE per week is doing so from Texas.

Did you miss the "at least" part. I have colleagues who are full time teleworkers and live in Texas.

This would hit feds outside of the DMV significantly more.

In my agency remote employees’ duty station is wherever they live. I have a colleagues in major cities (Chicago, SF) but also in very LCOL areas, and they receive locality pay or not based on where they live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or they could release some of the leased office space (and maybe lease out some of the federally owned buildings) and save some money. There is a federal office across the street from us that they spent about a decade renovating — it reopened years before the pandemic and I’ve never seen anyone going in or out or working there. Maybe doge could look into that?

What’s the current system with full remote workers though? If you are technically out of a dc office do you get dc locality pay? I know at least some business that pay alll their fully remote workers on their midwestern salary scale.

You’re supposed to get paid based on where you live, since your home is your office. (That said, when they switched DH from telework to remote, they never adjusted for some reason even though he made it clear he went remote at our address… our locality is only a difference of like 3k though).

He may want to fix that. I had a few colleagues who had their salary screwed up after annual promotions— completely HR’s fault. It was small enough that they didn’t notice. They only found out when they were informed that they owed the difference, plus interest, and were chastised/warned for not noticing and fixing it immediately. It was pretty messed up.

Yeah, I was overpaid at some point - I can’t remember why, it was years ago - and it was a big surprise when they recouped from my subsequent check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious why some think this will not pass? To me it seems like something that actually could pass unlike cutting jobs, requiring in person 5 days/week, or getting rid of whole agencies.

It’s a big pay cut for employees who live in HCOL areas, and Feds already make less than private sector for a a lot of fields. I guess the worst case is that everyone does RTO full time, or quits.

I think the worst case is most people go RTO full time, the agencies spend more to increase office space, and the new hires are only people who can stand extremely rigid employment terms and so diminishes the pool of best and brightest that the government competes for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!!! Right because someone that teleworks ONCE per week is doing so from Texas.

Did you miss the "at least" part. I have colleagues who are full time teleworkers and live in Texas.

This would hit feds outside of the DMV significantly more.

In my agency remote employees’ duty station is wherever they live. I have a colleagues in major cities (Chicago, SF) but also in very LCOL areas, and they receive locality pay or not based on where they live.

Not true for all agencies. In my agency, people live in Midwest (Wisconsin, Minnesota) are paid at DC scales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, that seems fair.

No it’s stupid. My home and office are both in the DC area— why would I lose locality pay for working from home?

I don’t see any chance this happens— it’s just more crap from the morons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!!! Right because someone that teleworks ONCE per week is doing so from Texas.

Did you miss the "at least" part. I have colleagues who are full time teleworkers and live in Texas.

This would hit feds outside of the DMV significantly more.

In my agency remote employees’ duty station is wherever they live. I have a colleagues in major cities (Chicago, SF) but also in very LCOL areas, and they receive locality pay or not based on where they live.

Not true for all agencies. In my agency, people live in Midwest (Wisconsin, Minnesota) are paid at DC scales.

That is abuse of pay. Remote (WFH) employees should be paid with home locality; teleworking employees can be paid with office locality.