Federal Government Employees Are Being Paid
Too Much ?! Hey guys, Last month a couple of congressmen
questioned the high amount of pay that federal employees in the Labor Department were receiving. And it will not take long for more questions
to be asked about other departments and agencies. The congressmen suggested that our federal
employees were receiving too much money largely due to the locality pay rate combined with
the impact teleworking has caused from the pandemic. The pandemic has been among us for the last
2 years and this has resulted in most number of federal government employees that are currently
teleworking, which is essentially means “working from home”, including myself.
In 2020, when it became obvious that this
pandemic would extend to months of teleworking, many federal employees decided to relocate
to different states. Employees traveled back to a lot of states
or cities that have much lower cost of living than where they were currently working. For example, if you were a federal employee
working in Washington D.C. you receive a 34% increase to your salary because of the locality
pay rate. Immediately after the pandemic in the spring
of 2020 you could have then moved from the D.C.
Area to Mississippi or Indiana and still
receive that 34% higher salary as you continue to telework for your office back in D.C. Has this been happening? Yes, it has happened quite a bit. Is this fair? Well, these are the type of questions that
are now being brought up in congress. The two congressmen were from Kentucky and
North Carolina and what they specifically said was that they were “very concerned
that the department of labor is paying employees working from alternative work sites at locality-pay
rates that do not align with their physical work locations.” I will leave the original article in the description
below if you are interested. As, I continue to read on it states that March
7th 2022 is the projected date for the department of Labor to finish a phased-in “reentry”
back to the workplace. Now, in the federal government, over the past
couple of years, most of federal employees have heard multiple dates on when to expect
to be back in the office and as of yet there has still not been a definite date. In my opinion, the return dates will continue
to shift as new variants continue to emerge and return plans have to be reworked.
Understand that most departments will have
the flexibility and authority to set their own plans and timelines for returning back
to the workplace. There will probably not be a blanket policy
for all agencies. Aside from the locality pay rate issue, many
members of congress have expressed that the amount of federal employees currently teleworking
is a problem. Last year, members of congress have called
on the Biden administration to return more teleworking federal employees back to their
workplaces. One congressmen was quoted saying that “maximum
telework is not working for the American people”. One highlight in this concern was with the
IRS as there is still a large backlog of tax returns and we are already entering into the
next tax filing season. Multiple congressmen have written directly
to the IRS asking what steps they are taking to bring their federal employees back to their
regular worksites. Now, I personally believe that it will be
a long time before we see 100% of federal employees working back in their offices. But many people believe we could end up seeing
employees showing up once or twice a week to their physical workplace.
Before the pandemic, most of the federal departments
and agencies in and around Washington D.C. offered teleworking once or twice a week for
federal employees. This will likely only increase in the coming
years. There is a clear benefit to teleworking not
just for the federal employee but also for the federal department or agency. For the worker it means that they are able
to spend more time with their families or their hobbies. Also, they spend less money on gasoline, car
repairs, bus fares and food. For the department or agency they are spending
less tax payer money on supplies such as printer ink, paper, folders and pens. Also, they are not consuming the same amount
of utilities such as electricity, water and sewage as much. Obviously, there are certain jobs that cannot
be performed by teleworking such as security and food handlers. Also, in the D.C. area and probably most metro
areas, the restaurant industry suffers when the federal employees are not in the office. Thankfully my job can be performed completely
through teleworking and there is not the same amount of urgency to return as there might
be in other departments.
I enjoy teleworking and I do not believe in
impacts my office’s productivity. What do you think of the current federal government
teleworking policies? Do you believe that federal employees and
departments can be just as effective if they are not physically present in the office? Or do you believe it is time to get everyone
back in the offices? Let me know down below. Well that wraps up my video on Federal Government
Employees Are Being Paid Too Much ?! If you have any questions, comments or if
you feel like I missed something….please leave that down below.
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