Federal

RETURN Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 1,140 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the head of each government agency to create a plan for bringing employees back to work in person at their offices. Agencies must submit these plans to Congress and publish them on their websites within 30 days of the bill becoming law. The bill also requires agencies to report on their office space usage and recommend which leases to cancel.

Who It Affects

Government agencies and their employees. Labor organizations that have agreements with agencies about work arrangements.

Key Provisions

• Each agency head must submit a plan to resume in-person operations that includes the agency's policy on permanent remote work for employees who can do their jobs away from the office (Sec. 2(b)(2)(A)) • Employees who handle original government documents with sensitive or private information must return to their official work sites, and agencies must have explicit guidelines to protect sensitive information if these employees work remotely (Sec. 2(b)(2)(B) and (C)) • Agencies must create metrics to measure productivity of remote workers and identify employees who are not meeting their job duties (Sec. 2(b)(2)(D)) • Each agency must include a plan to provide essential government services in person to people in the United States (Sec. 2(b)(2)(E)) • If an agency plan conflicts with a labor agreement, the agency head must modify that agreement within 60 days after consulting with the labor organization to make it match the plan (Sec. 2(b)(3)) • Each agency must submit a report to the General Services Administrator within 60 days recommending which office leases should be cancelled because the space is underused (Sec. 2(c))

What Changes

Government agencies will be required to develop and publicly share detailed plans for bringing employees back to offices. Agencies must establish rules about remote work, including requirements that some employees return to offices. Agencies will need to create systems to measure remote worker productivity. Labor agreements between agencies and unions may be modified to match the new in-person operation plans.

Important Definitions

The bill defines "agency" as having the meaning given in section 101 of title 31, United States Code. "Covered agreement" means an agreement between an agency and a labor organization about resuming in-person operations that was made before the agency submits its plan. "Essential government service" includes delivery, receipt, processing or issuance of documents, funds or permits; providing access to public lands or spaces open to the public; conducting activities required by law to happen in person; and conducting inspections or activities that cannot be done virtually or without physical presence. "Remote work" means an arrangement where an employee performs work at an alternative work site instead of the official work site.

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 807 To require the head of each agency to establish a plan to resume in-person operations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 15, 2023 Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the head of each agency to establish a plan to resume in-person operations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Return Employees to 4 Understaffed Work Sites to Reopen Now Act of 2023’’ 5 or the ‘‘RETURN Act of 2023’’. 6 SEC. 2. AGENCY PLANS TO RESUME IN-PERSON OPER- 7 ATIONS. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.— In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 807 IS (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 31, 2 United States Code. 3 (2) COVERED AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘covered 4 agreement’’ means an agreement between an agency 5 and a labor organization that— 6 (A) is entered into before the date on 7 which the agency submits a plan under sub- 8 section (b)(1); and 9 (B) relates to the resumption of in-person 10 operations by the agency. 11 (3) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 12 an employee of an agency. 13 (4) ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE.—The 14 term ‘‘essential Government service’’, with respect to 15 an agency, includes— 16 (A) the facilitation of the delivery, receipt, 17 processing, or issuance of a document, fund, or 18 permit; 19 (B) the facilitation of access to public 20 lands or another public space that is open to 21 the public for use; 22 (C) the conduction of an in-person activity 23 or interaction that is required by law to be per- 24 formed in person; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 807 IS (D) the conduction of an inspection or 1 other in-person activity that cannot be rep- 2 licated virtually or without a physical presence. 3 (5) OFFICIAL WORK SITE.—The term ‘‘official 4 work site’’ means the place where an employee 5 works, or at which the activities of an employee are 6 based, as determined by the employing agency. 7 (6) REMOTE WORK.—The term ‘‘remote work’’ 8 means an arrangement under which an employee is 9 scheduled to perform the work of the employee at an 10 alternative work site. 11 (b) PLANS.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 13 the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each 14 agency shall submit to Congress and publish on the 15 website of the agency a plan for the agency to re- 16 sume in-person operations. 17 (2) CONTENTS.—Subject to paragraph (3), the 18 plan of an agency required under paragraph (1) 19 shall include— 20 (A) the policy of the agency with respect to 21 permitting permanent remote work capabilities 22 for employees who can successfully achieve the 23 duties of those employees away from the official 24 work sites of those employees, which shall in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 807 IS clude, if applicable, the policy of the agency 1 under section 6502(a)(1) of title 5, United 2 States Code; 3 (B) requirements for employees that, as 4 part of the duties of those employees, handle 5 original documents issued by the Federal Gov- 6 ernment or a State government that contain 7 sensitive or private information to return to the 8 official work sites of those employees; 9 (C) explicit guidelines for protecting sen- 10 sitive or private information if any employee de- 11 scribed in subparagraph (B) must perform re- 12 mote work; 13 (D) metrics to measure the work produc- 14 tivity of employees performing remote work to 15 identify employees that fail to fulfill the duties 16 of those employees; 17 (E) a plan to provide essential Government 18 services in person for individuals in the United 19 States; 20 (F) a contingency plan in the event that 21 the rate of COVID–19 transmission increases 22 in a region in which official work sites of em- 23 ployees of the agency are located, which shall be 24 based on metrics for COVID–19 transmission 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 807 IS to trigger the contingency plan established by 1 the agency; 2 (G) an assurance that the agency will up- 3 date the physical address of any employee of 4 the agency who permanently moves for the pur- 5 poses of determining whether the employee is 6 eligible to receive a comparability payment 7 under section 5304 of title 5, United States 8 Code; and 9 (H) measures to prepare for future public 10 health emergencies that can be quickly imple- 11 mented if remote work becomes necessary. 12 (3) LABOR AGREEMENTS.—If a plan submitted 13 by an agency under paragraph (1) conflicts with any 14 provision of a covered agreement to which the agen- 15 cy is a party, the head of the agency shall, not later 16 than 60 days after the date on which the agency 17 submits the plan under that paragraph, after con- 18 sultation with the applicable labor organization, and 19 notwithstanding any other provision of law or regu- 20 lation regarding the covered agreement, modify the 21 covered agreement so that the covered agreement is 22 consistent with, and complies with, the terms of that 23 plan. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 807 IS (c) GSA REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the 1 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 2 shall submit to the Administrator of General Services a 3 report on the physical work spaces used by the agency that 4 recommends the termination of any leases of the agency 5 for physical work spaces that are underused by the agency. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S807.IS S807 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

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