Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are raising questions about the role of federal unions and collective bargaining in federal telework and other workforce policies.

In a series of 24 letters addressed to federal agency leaders, Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pressed for details on how federal telework and other labor policies have impacted agencies during the Biden administration.

The pair of lawmakers said they are “also investigating whether agency leaders are abusing federal labor laws by granting authority over agency operations and policy to unions,” the letters stated. “To assist in our investigation, the committee seeks documents and information.”

Comer and Greene urged the 24 agencies to provide details about any ongoing negotiations with unions, communications materials related to collective bargaining, documentation of in-person work rates of agency staff, and employees’ use of official time. They set a deadline of Dec. 20 for agency leaders to respond to the request for information.

Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) did not immediately respond to Federal News Network’s request for comment on the recent letters from committee Republicans.

But in a May hearing of the Oversight committee, Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Rob Shriver defended the value of federal telework options, while also noting that more than half of the federal workforce cannot telework at all due to the onsite nature and requirements of their positions.

A spokeswoman for committee Republicans said the Dec. 6 letters come after what the lawmakers described as Biden administration officials “taking steps to ‘Trump-proof’ federal agencies and further entrench the unelected bureaucracy.”

“For instance, former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley signed a collective bargaining agreement allowing tens of thousands of federal employees to continue teleworking through 2029,” the spokeswoman said in an email to Federal News Network. “Meanwhile, the Biden administration has yet to provide evidence that pandemic-era telework has not negatively impacted agencies’ missions or services.”

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans have frequently denounced federal telework options, arguing that they worsen agencies’ customer service to the public. There have also been multiple attempts to codify limitations on telework options for federal employees, for instance in Comer’s SHOW UP Act. The bill cleared the House in 2023 along party lines, but has not had any movement in the Senate beyond its introduction.

But others, such as Democratic lawmakers, Biden administration officials, federal unions and advocacy groups, have argued limited resources and budget limitations are main drivers of customer service challenges, rather than telework. They have called federal telework an important flexibility, as agencies face challenges recruiting and retaining employees, and compete with the private sector for talent. For years, federal unions have generally been able to negotiate over telework arrangements for bargaining unit employees.

Federal unions have also expressed concerns about the possibility of other previous policies returning in President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, such as now-rescinded executive orders that Trump signed in 2019, which limited collective bargaining and official time for federal employees.

Still, reports of a recent update to the collective bargaining agreement between SSA and the American Federation of Government Employees gained negative attention from House Republicans. The recent labor-management agreement between SSA and AFGE extended the agency’s current telework policy until 2029 for telework-eligible employees. AFGE declined to comment on the Oversight committee’s Dec. 6 letters that reference the agreement.

Currently, telework-eligible SSA staff at both headquarters and regional offices work onsite two to three days per week — and 1.3% of the agency’s workforce is fully remote. Prior to his recent departure from the agency, O’Malley told Congress members that he believes SSA has reached the “right balance” of telework and onsite work. During a budget hearing in November, O’Malley pointed to a 6.2% increase in productivity over the last year for the agency’s hybrid workforce.

Based on agencies’ time and attendance data from May 2024 — the most recent and most accurate data that’s publicly available — the Office of Management and Budget reported that governmentwide, 54% of federal employees work fully onsite, while 46% are eligible for telework. The 46% of feds who are telework-eligible are spending over 60% of their work hours in the office. About 10% of feds work fully remotely.

In the Dec. 6 letters, the lawmakers additionally questioned AFGE’s agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year, which added a new provision on protecting scientific integrity. The letters from House Republicans also criticized OPM’s final rule earlier this year on clarifying and reinforcing civil service protections for career federal employees.

“This rule contains no meaningful reforms,” the lawmakers wrote.

The Biden administration’s final rule is an attempt to prevent a future administration from reviving a policy similar to Schedule F. The Schedule F executive order, which is now revoked, aimed to remove civil service protections for career feds in policy-related positions and give agencies the ability to fire them at will. Trump has promised to revive a policy like Schedule F in his second term.

Copyright © 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.