HYDE-SMITH, COLLEAGUES WANT FEDERAL WORKERS TO RETURN TO DUTY STATIONS
Despite COVID Vaccination Progress, Many Fed Agencies Retain Remote Work Status, Affecting Public Services
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today cosponsored legislation to require federal government workers to return to their duty stations as COVID-19 vaccines and health management practices make it safer to resume in-person activities.
Hyde-Smith is cosponsoring the Having Employees Return to Duty (HERD) Act, a bill authored by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) to require all federal employees to return to the hours and locations they worked prior to the pandemic’s beginning in March 2020. The measure includes an exception for the U.S. Department of Defense.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past 19 months through best practices, science, and vaccines for federal workers to return to their duty stations safely. The limitations of prolonged absences from offices is affecting casework and other services on which seniors, veterans, and others in Mississippi rely,” Hyde-Smith said. “I think it makes sense for folks to get back to the office.”
The bill includes provisions allowing agencies to implement social distancing guidelines should the duty station be in a location with substantial transmission of COVID-19, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The New York Times in May published an article highlighting the hardships lower-income individuals face from the continued closure of more than 1,200 Social Security Administration offices. These difficulties could continue if the Biden administration makes pandemic-related teleworking and remote work options permanent policy.
Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also cosponsored the measure.
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