Official Time of Federal Employees to be Tracked and Reported to Congress

July 15, 2016

Soon, Federal Employees will not be able to waste even a single minute at work by indulging in wasteful activities. A Republican leader has succeeded in passing a bill that asks the OPM to record and report the time spent by the federal employees in the official working hours. OPM is expected to present an annual report of the same to the Congress. The aim of the bill is to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not wasted by federal workers while they are on the clock.

The Bill that Keeps an Eye on Federal Employees

The bill was introduced in January by Dennis Ross who is a Florida Republican. The bill is co-sponsored by Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican. When explaining the need for this bill, Ross pointed out that the bill would allow Congress to be aware of federal employees’ use of working hours so that it can avoid wasteful spending. The bill is entitled H.R. 4392.

The Bill Increases the Responsibility of OPM

Ross added that the bill would require OPM to submit an annual and detailed report to Congress. The report will highlight how the federal employees spend their official time. It will also mention which activities and purposes are best suited for the official time. The official time was also defined by Ross. He stated that the official time can be used by the federal workers to carry out consultative or representational functions during the official hours. So, the federal workers are allowed to perform union functions during the official time.

The Passing of the Bill

The bill presented by Ross was made a part of the Government Reform and Improvement Act. It passed on party lines vote a few days back. Expressing his delight on the decision, Ross stated that he would like to thank Chairman Chaffetz and Mr. Hice for lending their support on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The bill now needs to be approved by the Senate.

The Need

The need to track federal employees’ during the official hours is very much important because as per OPM data, the federal workers spent around 3.4 million hours conducting union business while they were on duty. This cost about $157 million to the American taxpayers. The data was revealed in the year 2012 in an official report presented by OPM.