H.R. 236 explained · 119th Congress · Pending in Congress
Federal Employee Return to Work Act
Cosponsors: 21 (0 D, 21 R) · per Congress.gov, 2026-10-12
Introduced: 2025-01-07
Latest action (2025-01-07): Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
What H.R. 236 does, in plain terms
Federal Employee Return to Work Act This bill prohibits providing certain annual or locality-based pay increases to teleworking federal employees. Currently, federal law mandates annual adjustments to General Schedule (GS) pay rates according to (1) a formula based on the annual percentage change in the Employment Cost Index (a measure of labor costs in the private sector); and (2) the difference between public and private sector pay rates in an employee's locality, if that difference exceeds 5%. For example, in 2025, the default annual rate of pay for a GS-7 (step 1) employee is $49,960; the adjusted annual rate of pay for a GS-7 (step 1) employee in the locality pay area that includes Washington, DC, is $57,164. The bill makes executive agency employees who telework at least one day each week (or, in the case of an alternative work schedule, 20% or more each week) ineligible for these payments. The bill is effective on the first day of the fiscal year beginning after the bill's enactment.
Official summary by the Congressional Research Service, via Congress.gov.
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