Wolf Still Wants More Feds Working from Home

March 31, 2005 - 6:35am

Steve Eldridge, WTOP Radio

WASHINGTON -- Even though the number of federal employees who work outside the office on a regular basis is going up, there is still much work to be done to satisfy the 2001 Federal Telework Mandate.

The Mandate says that 100-percent of eligible federal employees should be teleworking at least one day a week by the end of this year. The law was written by Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) who says he's disappointed in the slow progress.

But he tells WTOP that he's going to add some teeth to the mandate, taking a page from drunk driving legislation, which he helped write several years ago.

"If an agency doesn't allow people who have jobs to telework, we will basically do the same thing that we did on .08 {blood alcohol level}, and basically reduce their appropriations."

Wolf says that in addition to congestion and air quality relief, teleworking is a valuable tool to keep the government running in the event of an emergency. He was surprised that the Department of Homeland Security only has 2-percent compliance.

In 2003, federal agencies reported that 43 percent of employees were eligible to telework, compared with 35 percent reported in 2002.

Steve Eldridge, WTOP Radio

WASHINGTON -- Even though the number of federal employees who work outside the office on a regular basis is going up, there is still much work to be done to satisfy the 2001 Federal Telework Mandate.

But he tells WTOP that he's going to add some teeth to the mandate, taking a page from drunk driving legislation, which he helped write several years ago.

"If an agency doesn't allow people who have jobs to telework, we will basically do the same thing that we did on .08 {blood alcohol level}, and basically reduce their appropriations."

In 2003, federal agencies reported that 43 percent of employees were eligible to telework, compared with 35 percent reported in 2002.

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