One in Five IRS Teleworkers Working Without Official Authorization

Government Executive reports:

One in five Internal Revenue Service employees who telework are not complying with a key provision of the law governing the practice, according to a new report, potentially undermining the integrity of a program that is otherwise mostly in line with federal statute.

About 7,800 of the 37,000 IRS employees who teleworked in a one-year period between 2014 and 2015 did so without a proper agreement in place with their manager, as required by the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration made its estimate in an audit that found 21 percent of a random sample of IRS teleworkers either had no agreement or had an arrangement not signed by their supervisor.

While nearly all teleworkers were in compliance with telework training requirements, roughly 2,200 employees -- again extrapolated out from TIGTA’s random sample -- have not received proper training. IRS management said it is already working on adjusting its procedures to require proof of training before employees can telework.

The special class of workers who are above the law.