USDA recently took away (and then had to backtrack a little...but only a little..now they can do 1 day of telework) telework from everyone except those with it as a Reasonable Accommodation (and even then it was scrutinized hard). Based on the people I know in USDA (including its sub-agencies) here in DC, it isn't an agency I'd recommend to anyone if they had other options. It isn't even just the telework issue, but other actions they have done over the past year that does not show they actually care about the employees.

Edited by user Monday, December 17, 2018 4:20:02 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The issue is "local commuting area".

Telework is a moving target. The "benefits" of telework and alternate work schedule are encouraged by OPM but the implementation is at the discretion of the agency and the management within the agency.


Commuting area means the geographic
area surrounding a work site that encompasses the localities where people
live and reasonably can be expected to
travel back and forth daily to work, as
established by the employing agency
based on the generally held expectations of the local community. When an
employee’s residence is within the
standard commuting area for a work
site, the work site is within the employee’s commuting area. When an employee’s residence is outside the standard commuting area for a proposed new
work site, the employee’s commuting
area is deemed to include the expanded
area surrounding the employee’s residence and including all destinations
that can be reached via a commuting
trip that is not significantly more burdensome than the current commuting
trip. This excludes a commuting trip
from a residence where the employee
planned to stay only temporarily until
he or she could find a more permanent
residence closer to his or her work site.
For this purpose, a commuting trip to
a new work site is considered significantly more burdensome if it would
compel the employee to change his or
her place of residence in order to continue employment, taking into account
commuting time and distance, availability of public transportation, cost,
and any other relevant factors.