On May 12, 2020, Mason’s Human Resources and Payroll office reiterated the Commonwealth of Virginia’s updated policy on telework. According to this policy, classified staff who wish to continue teleworking or remote working must submit a new standard telework agreement and have supervisor approval by May 20, 2022.
CHSS leadership is in contact with unit leadership (department chairs, program directors, and senior staff) on the submission of the new standard telework agreement. Please contact your unit leader prior to submitting the form. You may also contact Kim Dight, chief business officer at kdight@gmu.edu or Jacelyn Tyson, director, HR, at jtyson3@gmu.edu with questions and/or concerns.
Please do not submit any telework forms prior to Wednesday, May 18.
The steps required to submit the dynamic form required for the new telework agreements:
- Employees should contact their unit leader to discuss their intent to submit a telework request and receive additional guidance where necessary.
- Once instructed to do so, initiate and submit the electronic New Standard Telework Agreement (via Dynamic form). You can also access the form and instructions on the Flexible Work website. This form must be submitted electronically via Mason’s online form. Paper and electronic pdf versions of the form will not be accepted.
- NOTE: On May 16, 2020, 2:00 pm, this form was changed to collect information making the case for eligibility for any telework agreement seeking more than one day of telework per week. Any employees who submitted their form before this change will have to submit again using the revised form.
- Once the employee submits the form, it will be routed to their supervisor for review.
- Supervisors will approve or deny the form. Forms that are approved by the supervisor will be automatically forwarded to the respective party under the new policy for further review.
- The respective parties outlined below will approve or deny the request.
- Once the process is complete, employees will be notified of their request status.
- If the new standard telework agreement is approved, employees will then submit the standard Mason telework form found on the Flexible Work website.
The DHRM policy states that telework agreement approvals depend on how many days employees are requesting:
- George Mason University may approve/deny one day of telework per week or temporary telework (lasting no more than two weeks, for temporary circumstances such as family illness, school closing, weather advisories, etc.)
- The Virginia Cabinet Secretary may approve/deny requests to telework two days per week.
- The Virginia Chief of Staff may approve/deny requests to telework more than two days per week (including remote work).
By June 3, Mason will review all forms requesting one day of telework if the forms were approved by the supervisor no later than May 20, 2022. The Commonwealth of Virginia will review all forms requesting two or more days of telework.
Policy 1.61 is scheduled to take effect on July 5, 2022.
May 16, 2022
