The Telework Reform Act of 2025 rewrites chapter 65 of title 5 to create clearer definitions for agency-designated worksites, approved alternative worksites, telework, and a distinct category called "remote work" (full-time telework). It requires agencies to adopt annual supervisory reviews of telework agreements, expand manager training and monitoring systems, direct OPM to collect detailed participation data, and give OMB, DHS, and NIST roles in cybersecurity guidance.
The bill also limits when agencies must reimburse travel for employees working remotely within a 75-mile radius of their agency-designated worksite.
Separately, the bill authorizes noncompetitive appointments to remote-work positions for qualified covered veterans and military spouses and creates a seven-year pilot allowing noncompetitive hiring of spouses of law enforcement officers. For agency leaders and compliance officers, the Act shifts attention to position-by-position eligibility, stricter time-and-attendance verification, new reporting burdens, and potential upfront costs for IT and security—even where long-term space and operations savings may follow.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill redefines telework and creates a separate category called "remote work" for full-time telework, requires agencies to evaluate and document position eligibility, establishes annual supervisory reviews of telework agreements, and mandates training and monitoring. It limits travel reimbursement for remote workers within 75 miles of their agency site unless travel during the workday is required and approved, directs OPM to promulgate regulations, and requires multiple agency reports to Congress.
Who It Affects
This applies directly to federal HR leaders, agency Telework Managing Officers, supervisors of teleworkers, IT and cybersecurity teams (OMB/DHS/NIST/GSA), and federal employees who telework or work remotely—especially veterans, military spouses, and law enforcement families targeted by the hiring provisions. It also creates new data-reporting consumers (OPM, OMB, GAO, congressional oversight committees).
Why It Matters
The Act shifts telework from a largely managerial convenience to a regulated workplace category with clear eligibility rules, auditability, and reporting metrics. Agencies must reconcile employee flexibility with in-person needs, comply with new training and monitoring standards, and absorb or justify near-term IT and security investments against potential facility and operational savings.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill starts by rewriting the basic vocabulary: an "agency-designated worksite" is where an employee would otherwise work, an "approved alternative worksite" is an approved place the employee uses when teleworking, and "remote work" is defined as a full-time form of telework from an approved alternative worksite. That definitional clarity forces agencies to evaluate positions rather than employees in the abstract: an agency must decide which roles can be performed via remote work and document the agency-designated and approved alternative worksites.
On participation and oversight, the Act amends existing telework rules so written telework agreements are limited to one year and supervisors must review agreements at least annually with the agency Telework Managing Officer. The bill explicitly permits agencies to restrict telework if an employee has unexcused absences while teleworking, shows unacceptable performance, or violates telework terms.
For remote workers located within 75 miles of their agency-designated worksite, agencies no longer must reimburse ordinary travel between home and that worksite—reimbursement is allowed only if the travel is required during the workday and approved by the agency head or designee.Training, monitoring, and verification expand substantially. Agencies must train managers annually on accurate reporting of telework and remote-work participation, and establish systems (guided by OPM in consultation with OMB) to confirm employees are performing duties at approved worksites.
OMB, DHS, and NIST are pulled into a recurring review of telework information-security guidelines, and OPM must promulgate regulations detailing position eligibility processes, geographic boundaries where appropriate, and transition agreements when agencies stop offering remote work.The bill creates new data and reporting flows: OPM will collect granular participation buckets (full-time, 7+ days per pay period, 5–6 days, 3–4 days, 1–2 days, and situational), Telework Managing Officers must run biennial surveys and maintain agency web portals, agency CHCOs must submit telework eligibility update plans within 180 days, and agency heads must report to congressional oversight committees within one year on the costs, benefits, cybersecurity implications, and job classes suited or unsuited to remote work. GAO must compare agency constituent-service processing times to 2019 baselines, and OMB will send monthly in-person attendance reports for five years.Finally, the Act adds a hiring wrinkle: agencies may noncompetitively appoint qualified covered veterans and military spouses to remote-work positions if qualified, and it authorizes a time-limited (up to seven years) pilot permitting noncompetitive appointment of spouses of law enforcement officers to remote-work positions, subject to evaluation and reporting by OPM.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Telework agreements are capped at 1 year and supervisors must review an employee’s telework status at least annually in consultation with the agency Telework Managing Officer.
The bill prohibits travel reimbursement for remote workers whose approved alternative worksite is within 75 miles of the agency-designated worksite unless travel during the workday is required and approved by the agency head or designee.
OPM must collect telework participation in granular buckets (full-time, 7+ days/pay period, 5–6 days, 3–4 days, 1–2 days, and situational) and report workforce distribution and related productivity, cost, and well-being metrics.
Agencies may noncompetitively appoint qualified covered veterans and military spouses to remote-work positions; a seven-year pilot allows similar noncompetitive hiring of spouses of law enforcement officers with periodic OPM reporting.
OPM must issue regulations establishing a position-evaluation process for telework eligibility, permit limited geographic boundaries where needed, and authorize one-year remote work transition agreements when agencies discontinue remote-work offers.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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New definitions and telework eligibility rules
This section overhauls 5 U.S.C. 6501–6502: it inserts precise definitions for "agency-designated worksite," "approved alternative worksite," "telework," and a new category, "remote work" (full-time telework). It also requires written telework agreements to be time-limited (maximum one year) and obliges supervisors to perform annual reviews—assessing agency policy, employee performance under the agency appraisal system, and agency needs—together with the Telework Managing Officer. Practically, agencies must move from case-by-case telework practices to documented position-by-position eligibility and periodic reassessment.
75-mile reimbursement limit and supervisory discretion
The bill creates a bright-line reimbursement rule: if an employee works remotely from an approved alternative worksite within 75 miles of their agency-designated worksite, routine travel to that site is not compensable unless travel is required during the workday and approved by the agency head or designee. This puts discretion with agency leadership to approve exceptions, creating a uniform cap but preserving centralized waiver authority for mission needs.
Expanded training, monitoring, surveys, and portals
Agencies must provide annual training for managers and supervisors on accurate reporting of telework participation and time-and-attendance entries. Agencies must establish systems, guided by OPM and OMB, to confirm employees are performing duties at approved worksites. Telework Managing Officers must issue a biennial remote-work survey evaluating performance management and engagement, maintain an agency web portal for telework resources, and submit survey results to leadership—raising the visibility of telework metrics inside agencies.
New OPM regulations and multi-agency reporting regime
OPM must promulgate regulations (new 6507) specifying how agencies evaluate positions for telework eligibility, define who may designate positions eligible for remote work, handle changes when approved alternative worksites are >75 miles away, and create remote work transition agreements up to one year. The bill mandates CHCOs deliver an eligibility-update plan within 180 days; agency heads must furnish comprehensive reports on benefits/costs, job classifications, cybersecurity needs, and recruitment strategies within one year; OMB must report monthly on in-person attendance for five years; and GAO must compare constituent-service processing times to 2019 baselines. The Director must also amend 5 C.F.R. 531.605 to clarify the official worksite for remote employees.
Authority to hire veterans and military/law-enforcement spouses noncompetitively for remote positions
This new section allows agencies to noncompetitively appoint, for non-temporary employment, qualified covered veterans and military spouses to remote-work positions if qualified. It also authorizes a seven-year pilot permitting noncompetitive appointments of spouses of law enforcement officers to remote-work positions, with OPM reporting on appointment demographics and outcomes. The Director must issue or amend implementing regulations within 180 days.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Remote-eligible federal employees, especially full-time remote workers, who gain formal recognition of remote-work status and clearer expectations for continued participation and transition protections (e.g., one-year transition agreements).
- Qualified covered veterans and spouses of service members, who may access noncompetitive appointment paths to remote positions that improve geographic flexibility and retention.
- Agency HR and talent teams that want to recruit and retain specialized talent (including military spouses and veterans) by offering remote-work hiring flexibilities; the law centralizes rules that can be used as recruitment tools.
Who Bears the Cost
- Executive agencies, which must build or upgrade time-and-attendance verification systems, expand manager training programs, implement OPM-required surveys and portals, and adapt cybersecurity and IT infrastructure—upfront costs that the bill acknowledges may offset later facility savings.
- Supervisors and Telework Managing Officers, who face increased administrative burdens: mandatory annual reviews, survey responses, managing transition agreements, and additional documentation and approvals (including discretionary travel approvals).
- Employees within roughly 75 miles of their agency-designated worksite, who may lose routine travel reimbursement for commutes to agency sites unless travel is required and explicitly approved, shifting commuting costs back to employees in many cases.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between two legitimate goals: giving agencies managerial control, auditability, and cybersecurity protection by restricting and documenting telework, versus preserving employee flexibility, recruitment and retention advantages, and the operational efficiencies of remote work—especially for veterans and military spouses. The bill solves administrative ambiguity but does so by imposing discretion, monitoring, and potential costs that could blunt the very workforce flexibility it seeks to regulate.
The Act attempts to standardize telework by tethering eligibility to positions, imposing annual audits, and creating detailed reporting obligations. That standardization improves transparency but raises implementation questions: agencies will need consistent definitions when jobs cross organizational lines, and OPM regulations will have to resolve how to treat hybrid roles, field positions, and jobs with variable location demands.
The 75-mile radius is a blunt instrument—useful for reducing reimbursement ambiguity but likely to create edge cases for workers who live near but just outside the line or those who change living situations. The bill leaves agency heads broad discretion to approve travel, which centralizes decision-making but may produce uneven waiver use across agencies.
On monitoring and verification, the requirement that agencies "confirm" employees are performing duties at approved worksites invites technical and privacy trade-offs. Agencies must reconcile accurate attendance and productivity tracking with legal and ethical boundaries on employee monitoring and with collective bargaining obligations.
The reporting regime is extensive—monthly OMB attendance reports for five years, biennial surveys, and multiple agency reports to Congress—and the Act does not appropriate funds for those compliance tasks, so agencies may need to reallocate budgets, potentially slowing implementation. Finally, the noncompetitive hiring authorities raise equity questions for internal candidates and unions, and their effectiveness depends on careful regulatory guardrails and rigorous evaluation during the law-enforcement spouse pilot.
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