Panel: Agency need not subsidize high-speed telework

An agency's argument that paying for teleworking employees' high speed Internet connections would result in a costly administrative burden has prevailed in binding arbitration before the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

In a July 18 decision, the panel agreed with the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that employees authorized to work from home do not need high speed Internet access. Thus the agency will not be required to help pay for installation of and monthly fees for that service, as proposed by the union.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 800 ATF employees, had argued that a high speed Internet connection is necessary for teleworking employees to be as productive as those working from the agency's offices. The union also had asked that teleworkers be given filing cabinets to make agency information taken offsite more secure.

NTEU said the cost of covering half of monthly access charges -- at an estimated cost of about $225,000 -- would be offset by reduced office space expenses.

But the panel rejected the union's argument. The decision ordered the adoption of the agency's proposal, which authorizes payment for laptop computers, which most employees already have, and cell phones. The agency also would reimburse teleworkers for business-related long distance phone calls made at home.

In May, ATF and NTEU agreed that about 750 employees represented by the union would receive more flexibility to work away from the office. Previously, only nine employees represented by the union were allowed to telework, and on a part-time basis.

But the two sides reached an impasse over the implementation of the new policy. With the assistance of impasses panel member Grace Flores-Hughes, voluntary agreements were reached on all disputed matters except the equipment the agency would provide.

The agency held that investigators without high speed Internet access "can visit their offices to import relevant data" from the agency's databases. The payments for access costs requested by NTEU would be inefficient and cause an administrative hardship, the agency maintained.

Because a majority of those participating in the telework program are investigators who spend about 70 percent of the time working in the field, high speed Internet access is not necessary, the agency argued.

Paying for Internet access could even be unlawful under the General Services Administration's recently released telework guidance that forbids the payment of "utility costs" for teleworking employees, agency officials said.

The guidelines, which established governmentwide rules and clarified federal law on working outside government office spaces, prohibit agency payment of incremental utilities costs. But they allow agencies to pay for the installation of communications services, such as the Internet and fax lines, and for monthly charges for their use, so long as employees have approval to work at home.

Advocates of telework have said a lack of high speed Internet access is often the greatest barrier to ability to telework effectively.

In a statement, NTEU President Colleen Kelley said if an employee has high speed Internet access at work, the employee should have the same access at home. She said ATF covers the cost of high speed Internet access for some of its nonunion employees and should bear its fair share of telework costs.

Larry Ford, assistant director of ATF's office of public and governmental affairs, said in a statement that the agency is pleased with the decision because it gives telework-eligible employees increased flexibility that will lead to higher productivity.