Letter from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) to Bill Clinton. Re: OSHA Teleworker Advisory Opinion. Date: January 5, 2000. Source: Office of Rep. Frank Wolf. This document was created by scanning a paper copy, and converting to HTML.

The Honorable William J. Clinton
The President
The White House
Washington DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I read today's Washington Post article, "OSHA Covers At-Home Workers Companies Liable for Safety of Telecommuters," and wanted to call to your attention the serious negative impact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) advisory on at-home work will have on telecommuting.

I support a safe and healthy workplace for all employees. However, the recent OSHA advisory is an outdated and overly regulatory approach to the realities of the modern-day workplace. The advisory will have a chilling effect on millions of employees across the nation who now telework and many more who want to telework.

Teleworking, or telecommuting, is perhaps the most exciting and significant tool for workers of the 21st Century to manage today's challenges. Telework provides working moms and dads with more freedom and choice in their daily lives. Telework allows flexibility in managing family life and spending time with children in after-school activities and other family responsibilities. Families today are under increased pressure and face greater challenges than ever before. Telework allows working parents options to meet these challenges.

Telework also provides people with disabilities more opportunities. Telework allows a worker caring for a sick child or family member to manage both important responsibilities.

Telework takes cars off the road and reduces air pollution and traffic congestion. People in your administration are now working to implement a pilot program established through an amendment I offered to the Fiscal Year 2000 transportation appropriations bill to develop an emissions trading program in the Washington Metropolitan Region and four other metropolitan regions in the nation for employers who participate in telecommuting.

Employers benefit from telework. Companies have found that employees who telecommute are more productive, use less sick leave, and have higher retention rates. Employers can reduce costly overhead, such as office and parking space, through telework. Telework is a win-win situation for both employers and employees.

The OSHA advisory could stop in its tracks the high-technology momentum now sweeping the nation and driving our tremendous economic prosperity. Information technology is providing answers on how to improve our quality of life. The OSHA advisory could be the single greatest threat to advancing telework, just days after ringing in the beginning of the 21st Century -- the "Information Age."

I call on you to use your executive authority to act immediately to rescind this ill advised interpretation by OSHA of the modem-day home worksite.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Best regards.

Sincerely,

Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress

FRW:tes