Telework, an area of personnel management in which the federal government has been touted as a leader among employers, received a rare skeptical look at a House hearing this week, a result of an IG investigation at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office questioning whether teleworkers there—whose program in turn has been cited as the model among federal agencies—are putting in a full day’s work.
IG Todd J. Zinser noted that agency management itself had concluded in a review of allegations raised by the IG that “supervisors are not provided sufficient tools for ensuring that their employees are actually working the hours claimed. Further, USPTO senior management has essentially prohibited supervisors and employee relations personnel from obtaining building and computer records to follow up on employees suspected of misrepresenting time worked on their time sheets—or allowing these records to be used as evidence in a disciplinary action—giving the impression that time and attendance abuse is tolerated at USPTO.”
He said his office is conducting several investigations into allegations that some employees go to their offices in the morning, disappear for the bulk of the day, and then return at the end of the day; that time and attendance records were falsified; and that no disciplinary action had been taken against a patent examiner who “had been bragging about producing zero work products for a six-month period.”
Also under investigation are whether senior management disregarded reports coming up from lower-level supervisors of alleged time and attendance abuse by their subordinates.
He also questioned the practice of “end-loading” in which examiners submit a high volume of decisions at the end of each quarter – instead of spreading them out consistently – which raises questions of whether they were working diligently for that entire period. About a fifth of examiners submit their work on such a schedule, he said.
Agency head Margaret Focarino said that the telework program has enabled the agency to save on its real estate and other overhead costs, has boosted guidance and training and is clarifying what should be done if misconduct is suspected. The agency also has contracted with the National Academy of Public Administration to evaluate its telework program.
Robert Budens, president of the Patent Office Professional Association, which represents examiners, said the telework program has been valuable to both the agency and the employees and said the report the IG referred to was only a draft and that the agency could not produce the work output it does if it had a significant number of unproductive examiners. Management has many tools to measure their output and behavior and authority to take discipline against those who don’t meet standards, he said.
