Congressional Research Employees Association

 
CREA has a position statement on outside writing, revised in January 2010. Please see CREA on Outside Writing. Also feel free to consult your CREA representative with questions.

Lists of First and Second Round of Teleworkers Available
On Tuesday, May 18, the CRS Office of Workforce Management and Development (WRK) forwarded to the Office of Information Management and Technology (IMT) the names of the first cohort of CRS employees that have been approved for telework. You can see your order in the queue by looking at the First Telework Cohort List. If you applied after May 3, and were approved, you can check your order in the Second Telework Round List.

Laptop Configuration to Begin
There are 148 employees in the first cohort. IMT hopes to complete 50 laptops per week. However, the process is the same as if you were receiving a new desktop computer. Files must be transferred from your desktop to the laptop, etc. Depending on each employee’s situation, the process may take several hours.

How the Queue Was Determined
Per agreement between CREA and CRS management, all CRS employees eligible for telework (i.e. all non-supervisory employees),  whether interested in telework or not, have been assigned a random number. That number was generated by IMT using a standard random number generating algorithm. All those employees who submitted their telework application on or before May 3 (the first official date for submitting applications), and who were subsequently approved, form the first cohort. The order in which they will be contacted by IMT was based on their random number, starting with the employee with the lowest number and proceeding upward.

Second Round
Those employees who submitted their application on May 4, and were subsequently approved for telework, form a second cohort. They will be contacted by IMT after the last employee of the first cohort receives his/her laptop. Again, the order within the second cohort is determined by the employee’s random number.

Future Rounds
Which cohort an employee is in is determined by the date they applied. Their order within the cohort is determined by their random number. Additional cohorts will be forwarded from WRK to IMT until the number of applicants are reduced to a level which IMT can handle on a routine basis.

Questions?
If you have any questions about the process of applying for telework, getting approved, receiving a laptop, and starting your telework experience, please contact CREA.

 
CREA and CRS management met last week to discuss telework implementation issues that employees have brought to CREA’s attention since the announcement of the CRS Telework Progam. The Questions and Answers below reflect the consensus reached by CREA and CRS management on those issues.

Q. Why do employees who are already approved to work from home [based on the health and/or ad hoc off-site work provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement], have a CRS issued laptop, and have been approved to telework, need to participate in the allocation of laptops pool before beginning to telework?

A. The laptops currently in circulation are unlikely to have the latest configuration that the Information Management and Technology Office (IMT) has determined is necessary for effective and secure off-site work. Therefore, according to IMT, all previously distributed laptops must be examined and their configuration updated as needed before they can be used for telework on a regular basis. Therefore, those employees already with laptops who have been approved to telework still must wait their turn with IMT. However, whatever off-site work arrangement an employee is currently working under may continue.

Q. Must an employee be able to get to the office in two hours or less in order to be accepted into the telework program?

A. No. The Agreement states that: “Normally, an employee will be given a minimum of two hours notification [if required by management to return to the office in order to accomplish the work].” Employees who live more than two hours away should be given more notification; e.g., three hours if it will take them more than two hours to return to the building.

Q. Are probationary employees excluded from the telework program?

A. No. Per the terms of the Agreement “all” employees are eligible. Reasonableness must be applied. It may not be appropriate for an employee to telework immediately upon joining CRS. Training requirements and time needed to demonstrate the ability to work independently may keep a probationary period employee from the program initially. Once those matters have been dealt with, any employee may be permitted to telework.

Q. May an employee have a different fixed telework day each week of the pay period?

A. No, the same day must be taken each week.

Q. If an employee needs to submit documentation for repayment of long distance telephone calls, what documentation is required?

A. The employee must submit a copy of the telephone bill showing the calls for which the employee seeks reimbursement. All other information may be redacted for privacy concerns.

As implementation moves forward, employees are encouraged to bring to CREA’s attention any issues or questions that may arise. You may contact CREA directly by email or phone, or through your division/office representatives.

 
As you’ve probably heard, on March 26 your CREA negotiation team reached an agreement with CRS on our new telework policy. The team worked hard to make the final agreement flexible for staff and won several crucial improvements.

If CRS hadn’t been required to negotiate with CREA, we would now be governed by the policy implemented in January for non-bargaining unit, non-supervisory staff. Here are some major changes between that policy and the one CREA negotiated for you.

1. Compflex. The original proposal explicitly stated that those who are on compressed work week schedules would not be allowed to telework. The negotiated agreement explicitly states that staff on Compflex are allowed to participate.

2. Substitute days. The original proposal stated that if you were required for work reasons to come onsite on your telework day, you were not allowed to substitute another day; in other words, you lost it. The negotiated agreement allows for substitute telework days.

3. Grievability. The original proposal included no recourse for any denial of telework. The negotiated policy allows grievances for violations of the agreement.

4. Expanded number of days. The original proposal didn’t include any potential for expansion. In the negotiated agreement, a pilot program will be initiated after six months for employees who have less face-to-face contact with Congress to telework up to two days per week.

5. Limited reasons for denial. In the original proposal, the list of reasons an employee could be denied telework was open-ended, which effectively meant that an employee could be denied for any reason. In the negotiated agreement, the factors are limited to an agreed-upon list of criteria.

6. Reapplying with new supervisor. In the original proposal, all teleworking employees were required to reapply when they got a new supervisor, which happens with some frequency in some divisions. That requirement was deleted in the negotiated agreement.

7. No unilateral termination. The original proposal included language that made it possible for the Director to unilaterally decide that telework was not consistent with the needs of the Service, potentially resulting in no opportunities for any staff to telework. That language was removed.

We hope that these are changes that make a difference to you.

CREA laid the groundwork for these negotiations by pushing for a viable telework agreement for over 10 years, both in testimony before the budget committee and in meetings with Members and staff on the oversight and appropriations committees. The new policy is a culmination of that effort.

If you’re not a member yet, please consider joining. You can see for yourself the difference union bargaining power makes in an agreement like this. We made a difference on this issue, and we’ll continue working to make one in the future. We can do it even better if you’re along.