Change affects those within 50-mile radius
Hoteling employees living within a 50-mile radius of the Alexandria USPTO headquarters may elect to change their duty stations to their home offices, thereby negating the requirement to report to headquarters for two days per biweek, according to an agreement recently signed by POPA and the USPTO.
In exchange for the big reduction in travel time and expense, the 50 Mile Radius Agreement, signed in March 2010, states that hoteling employees who voluntarily agree to change their official duty stations to their homes:
Hoteling employees who are not examiners or otherwise not on a special rate pay schedule who wish to change their duty station to their home may inadvertently be changing to a lower locality pay rate. Before changing, these employees should consult Appendix A of the agreement to see if their home duty station sits in a different pay area.
For all interested hoteling employees, some duty stations may be outside of their current health insurance coverage area, most often affecting health maintenance organization (HMO) insurance plans. Concerned employees should check the Office of Personnel Management Web site (www.opm.gov) to see if their health insurance coverage would be affected. If so and employees change duty stations, they will have up to 60 days to select from plans available in the area of their new duty station.
Changes in Performance-related Requirements
Under the original hoteling program and Patents Telework Program, employees were removed from telework entirely if they received a written warning of unacceptable performance.
The recently signed agreement changes that. An employee's performance will not affect his or her continued participation in hoteling or under the Increased Flexitime Policy (IFP). Employees participating in the telework program who receive a written warning may continue to telework one day per week (up to ten hours). If the number of telework hours for participants is generally increased, employees on written warnings will remain limited to telework one day per week (up to ten hours), unless the parties agree otherwise. Teleworking employees who successfully complete the written warning period will be permitted to work up to the agreed upon program limits.
POPA and the USPTO agreed that employees should consider relocating to the USPTO if they think that teleworking is contributing to their performance issues. "Supervisors and employees are encouraged to discuss this option," states the new agreement.
Hotelers Beyond the 50-mile Radius
POPA long has advocated enabling hotelers living outside of the 50-mile radius to change to a home duty station. However, the USPTO maintains that to do this under current statutes would require the agency to pay for those employees' travel expenses whenever they're needed at headquarters, and such costs are prohibitive.
POPA supports allowing these long-distance hotelers to make the duty station choice as long as POPA has the opportunity to negotiate protections for those employees. Without agreed-upon safeguards in place, managers could require hotelers to fly in and stay at hotels at their own expense without valid reasons.
POPA hopes such an agreement is the next step in building an effective nationwide USPTO workforce.