AUSAs: What does your USAO telework policy look like? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I know that DOJ is moving towards 3 days in-office per week. What does that actually look like?

Is someone tracking when you badge-in and badge-out? Do you end up on a naughty list if you only make it in 2 days? Are you expected to badge in by 9a and not badge out until after 5p?

I'm starting at a USAO soon. I'm coming from a very lax telework environment so I'm just curious about what return to office actually looks like.

FWIW, my office is 3 days per week in the office: 1 day is mandatory (e.g., everyone comes in on Thursday) and the other 2 are flex.

[Anonymous User]

I know that DOJ is moving towards 3 days in-office per week. What does that actually look like?

Is someone tracking when you badge-in and badge-out? Do you end up on a naughty list if you only make it in 2 days? Are you expected to badge in by 9a and not badge out until after 5p?

I'm starting at a USAO soon. I'm coming from a very lax telework environment so I'm just curious about what return to office actually looks like.

FWIW, my office is 3 days per week in the office: 1 day is mandatory (e.g., everyone comes in on Thursday) and the other 2 are flex.

With the caveat that this is going to vary by office: mine requires 4 days/wk in office (this was before DOJ announced the minimum 3 days/wk policy; it's very much the USA's preference), and official hours are 8:30-5.

We do also situational telework, so if, say, you need to be home for a specific reason (like when a plumber comes fix your toilet), you can work from home instead of take leave. Since covid, "I'm not sick enough to take sick leave but am sick enough not to want to infect others/commute" has become a popular reason for situational telework.

But what you really want to know: enforcement really depends a lot on office culture, USA/supervisor preference, and probably personal tolerance for risk.

No one is tracking when you badge-in/out, at least, not to my knowledge. Generally, if you're getting your work done, you're showing up to hearings/meetings, and your supervisors/colleagues can reach you as needed, people won't nitpick your hours or presence in the office.

Officially, you need supervisor approval for situational telework. In practice, it's like taking leave in general - you let your supervisor know ahead of time, but you're more letting them know where you're going to be than getting permission to do it. (Supervisors technically have to approve leave requests, but they always do - you earned it, you can take it when you want, barring some really unusual situation.)

But individual situations can differ both by office (mostly USA) and by supervisor, depending on how they feel about facetime in offices and adhering to the letter of the rules. Like I said, my USA had already set a stricter in-office policy b/c they are very, shall we say, hands on. I haven't heard of them giving anyone grief for WFH too often, but wouldn't put it past them to do so if it happened. I've never run across a supervisor denying or questioning any individual request for situational telework, but I'd imagine that if you're noticeably absent beyond what office culture supports they'd talk to you about the pattern at some point.

Office size is another factor - in a small office it's easy to track who's there and who's not. In the huge offices, I don't think this is really practical (I know of one such office where an AUSA was basically never in the office because they had a side gig running a restaurant, and I think they eventually got fired/officially disciplined for it, but it took a long time).

Very senior/talented/productive/well-liked people can also often do what they like. But if you're struggling to manage your caseload, or your supervisor comes to feel like you're slacking or trying to get out of work, you'll probably get more scrutiny; new people are also likely to be watched more closely (sorry! in my office they can't telework for the 1st 6 months).

Some of it boils down to your risk tolerance. Once you get out of your probationary period (14 months) it's REALLY hard to fire you. How much will you care if they complain about you WFH too much? Is the rest of your work good enough that it will make up for the WFH criticism?

I guess the last thing I'll add is that (assuming you're on the criminal side) some of this is sort of an academic discussion. Depending where you're working, office caseload, and your own caseload, you may have to be in court multiple times a week, at which point you might as well go work in the office. We don't maintain physical files any more, but there may be things it's still easier to do at the office. Or you'll have in-person meetings. So you may need to go in often enough that the official policy doesn't matter much.

I think this may play out where instead of not coming into the office at all, you work in-office most days for at least part of the day, but come in late or leave early. On a practical level, if management sees you in the office during the day, that will probably get you credit for an "in office" day, even if you spend part of it at home.

[Mr. December]

I know that DOJ is moving towards 3 days in-office per week. What does that actually look like?

Is someone tracking when you badge-in and badge-out? Do you end up on a naughty list if you only make it in 2 days? Are you expected to badge in by 9a and not badge out until after 5p?

I'm starting at a USAO soon. I'm coming from a very lax telework environment so I'm just curious about what return to office actually looks like.

FWIW, my office is 3 days per week in the office: 1 day is mandatory (e.g., everyone comes in on Thursday) and the other 2 are flex.

In my office, AUSA's can telework up to 32 hours per pay period in either four or eight hour chunks. Tuesdays are dedicated in office days, but the rest is left up to the discretion of the supervisor. In my unit, we don't have dedicated telework days, but rather have intermittent telework left to the discretion of our supervisor, who in practice liberally grants it and doesn't really ask for an underlying reason to telework.

Here, we need to mark telework hours on our timesheets, so if an AUSA exceeded the 32 hours, there would probably be a conversation. Either way, at least in the criminal division, this isn't a job that will lend itself to working remotely all the time, given the need to appear in court and have in-person agent/witness conferences. And in my opinion, for a new AUSA doing criminal work, especially one who hasn't spent much time in the courtroom, there's a distinct benefit to being around to watch court and to develop relationships with more experienced AUSAs and the agents who will funnel you cases.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

Thank you both for the comments. I'm going into the affirmative civil pros section so I think my in-court time is going to be a lot less than criminal side folks but certainly not zero. I also need to develop relationships with colleagues and agents so that point is also well taken.

Generally speaking, I don't have intentions of pushing the telework boundaries. However, I happen to be a parent of 3 (all under 4) and things just seem to always come up.

I plan to get my work done and work hard (don't we all) and don't have any reservations that I'll be able to do my job well. But, I'm nervous about mandated in-office times.

I think this may play out where instead of not coming into the office at all, you work in-office most days for at least part of the day, but come in late or leave early. On a practical level, if management sees you in the office during the day, that will probably get you credit for an "in office" day, even if you spend part of it at home.

This is basically what Im hoping for. Fingers crossed it works like this. Where I can come in later if daycare had something come up or leave early to do pickup. Then get back to work in the evening after dinner, etc.