House bill would protect telework, remote work for military spouses at agencies
Despite making a half-dozen or so overseas and domestic moves over the past 18 years, a Virginia woman we’ll call Jane Doe has had two constants in her life: the support of her husband, an active-duty service member, and a fulfilling career in the federal government.
Jane, who has a master’s degree, has been able to thrive in that job as her husband gets sent from one duty station to the next thanks to remote work arrangements with the federal agency that has employed her for nearly two decades. But a day-one executive order from President Donald Trump calling for a return to in-person work could put an end to that flexibility.
“This wasn’t a choice for us to move,” said Jane, who was granted anonymity to protect against retaliation. “We have a mortgage to pay. We have bills coming every month, and it’s dependent on two incomes. So we should not have to be penalized because the government and the military said to my husband, ‘you have to move.’”
A bipartisan House bill introduced Wednesday aims to ensure that military spouses like Jane don’t have to choose between quitting their federal jobs or making unreasonably long daily commutes. The Support Military Families Act from Reps. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., and Rob Wittman, R-Va., would carve out an exception to allow spouses of armed forces members to continue working in the federal government via telework and remote work agreements.
“As a 25-year Army veteran, I’ve seen firsthand the sacrifices military spouses make for our nation. I know that supporting military families is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue,” Vindman said in a statement. “I’m introducing this bipartisan bill to guarantee that those serving our country in uniform can continue their mission, that our federal agencies retain experienced staff, and that military families remain together.”
For Jane, who lives in Vindman’s district, complying with Trump’s order would mean a 200-mile daily commute to her agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Before landing her job in the federal government, Jane said she would hide in job interviews the fact that she was a military spouse because she “didn’t want to be discriminated against because we’d be moving in three years.”
Armed with a graduate degree, Jane was forced to take various front desk and restaurant jobs in the aftermath of the 2008 recession before latching on with her agency. “It’s constantly been a challenge to keep a career relevant,” she said, “but it’s always been something that’s really, really important to me.”
In addition to locking in telework and remote-work arrangements for military spouses like Jane, the bill from Vindman and Wittman would require the comptroller general of the United States to submit a report to Congress that details the total number of military spouses that Trump’s EO would affect, the average distance those employees would have to commute if forced to report to their agency, and the economic impact associated with in-person work for those individuals.
Jane said she hopes to raise the public’s awareness about the issue and have Congress take these concerns seriously.
“I just really want the American public to know that we are regular, everyday people that believe in the work we do,” she said. “We need the support of the people to not only support the federal workforce, but in turn, support the military and families.”
