WORK AT HOME RULES MAY EASE.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - You and your employer have all the tools for telecommuting, including computers, high-speed hookups and cell phones. So why are you still crawling to work every day through smog and SigAlerts?

Blame it on a balky federal bureaucracy, say House Republicans who want to streamline regulations and get more workers out of the slow lane a few days each week while giving a boost to depressed high-tech businesses.

``The quickest way to kill the telecommuting movement is to bring Big Government into it,'' said Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, a principal sponsor of a package of bills called ``The GOP E-Contract With High-Tech America.''

Proposed measures range from increased Internet access in higher education to more flexible rules governing worker safety, wages and hours.

McKeon and other GOP leaders argue that employer concerns over unresolved regulatory issues, including whether employers should have to remodel disabled employees' homes under provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, are stifling telecommuting.

But Democrats and labor unions worry that the GOP's plan to promote telecommuting will dilute employee rights and protections.

``I agree we need laws to facilitate telecommuting,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills. ``But we also have to have enforceable environmental and safety laws. The Republican package has some good elements. But it also has some poison pills, like eliminating required overtime pay in return for compensatory time off.''

Candice Johnson, spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of Americas' Washington office, agreed.

``Our goal is to grow with change,'' Johnson said. ``At the same time, we want to make sure that workers have the protections of a quality job.''

McKeon said Republicans will have to work hand in hand with Democratic leaders if they want to make telecommuting a reality.

``There is so much distrust,'' said McKeon. ``Some people are afraid of change, and others think we're up to something. All we want to do is free up people to telecommute if they want to.''

GOP arguments are supported by data in the Southern California Association of Governments' 1999 State of the Commute report. It found that the percentage of employers offering telecommuting programs fell from 12.5 percent to 8.6 percent from 1994 to 1999 in the five-county Los Angeles region.

The report, which also noted that region has the nation's worst traffic and the longest average one-way commutes - from 14.9 miles in Los Angeles County to 21.6 miles in Riverside County - also found that 82 percent of those Southern California workers with access to telecommuting use the programs an average of 3.2 days per month.

The SCAG report called telecommuting ``the most popular program an employer can offer to employees, yet it is one of the least offered programs by employers.''

Regulatory roadblocks to telecommuting were outlined in a recent U.S. General Accounting Office report commissioned by House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas. In addition to problems involving disabled workers, it found that Internal Revenue Service rules still interpret computers and other equipment given to workers by employers for use at home as taxable fringe benefits.

The GAO also noted that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still considering inspections and rules for home offices. It found that federal regulators are concerned about workers' compensation claims for injuries sustained at home.

The GAO report recommended that, in addition to resolving regulatory issues, Congress could stimulate telecommuting by offering tax credits to employers who buy equipment needed for such programs.

Los Angeles County government runs one of the region's largest telecommuting programs. An estimated 3,000 out of 90,000 employees make use of a program that was launched in 1989, in the high-tech era's infancy, to cut smog and traffic congestion.

The county's telecommuting program has drawn praise from the AFL-CIO. It specifically cited the county's contract with Service Employees International Union Local 660 as a model pact that offers its members flexibility while guaranteeing their rights.

``Telecommuting has met a number of our needs,'' said Evelyn Gutierrez, who supervises the county's program. ``We've gotten people out of traffic, seen enhanced employee morale and production, and now we're also realizing energy savings.''

Like most telecommuting programs nationwide, the county's program is voluntary. Participants must be in positions that are compatible with increased flexibility. Social service and other field workers make up the bulk of telecommuters. All telecommuters are given a training course and sign an agreement outlining the county's rules.

``We let them know that there are certain core hours each day when they are required to be at work or in contact,'' said Gutierrez. ``We also give them guidance on tax issues and ergonomic tips for setting up a workstation. We don't want someone working at home out of a beanbag chair.''

Gutierrez said the county has experienced no problems with regulatory issues, including a 10-year record of zero workers' compensation claims for at-home injuries.

``I'm like a different person,'' said telecommuter Stephanie Saint- Louis, an internal affairs investigator for the county's Department of Family and Children's Services. ``I'm based downtown, but I travel all over the county to various offices. When I telecommute, I can work out of my home in Windsor Hills (near Culver City), setting up appointments, making calls and writing reports with no interruptions.''

Saint-Louis is not the only county worker who likes working from home.

``I'm more productive in terms of my work,'' said Darlene McDade-White of Pasadena, also a DFCS internal affairs investigator, who has been telecommuting since 1989.

``My office and home are in Pasadena, but my work takes me to offices as far away as Palmdale,'' she said. ``I can start my day at home, making appointments, and end it at home, writing and filing reports with my laptop, without having to go back to the office.

``I have a 5-year-old daughter who is in day care near my home. I can visit her or bring her home when she's sick. That's a real advantage.''

McDade-White, who telecommutes about three days a month on average, said she does not feel disconnected from colleagues in traditional office settings.

``With a pager and conference calls on the cell phone, I'm always in touch,'' she said.

Gutierrez and other experts advised that telecommuting is not for everyone.

``You are basically working alone,'' said Dr. Margaret Stuber, a psychiatrist and director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Organizational and Group Dynamics. ``A telecommuter often doesn't have the same sense of working together.''

And - despite the advantages of high technology - e-mail, pagers and cell phones don't provide all the advantages of an office setting where employees chat with co-workers and supervisors face to face.

``It is also hard to communicate emotions clearly through e-mail alone. E-mails can be misinterpreted as cold and unfeeling by colleagues. You also need to maintain phone contact,'' Stuber said. ``A mix of telecommuting and work in an office setting is best.''

Chuck Wilsker, executive director of the Washington-based International Telework Association and Council, said that government is making some moves to increase the ranks of telecommuters.

He cited a Virginia program that gives employers grants of $3,500 per worker to finance telecommuting startup costs.

On the federal front, a pilot program, sponsored last year by Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Long Beach, and launched in April in Los Angeles County, allows employers to obtain redeemable air pollution credits in return for getting telecommuting workers and their tailpipe emissions off the freeways.

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Who telecommutes

--About 16.6 million workers nationwide telecommute at least one day a month, 9.8 million at least one day a week. Their numbers have increased 20 percent a year since 1990.

--In a survey of Southern California commuters, 8.6 percent said their employers offered telecommuting as an option. Of those with the option, 82 percent said they telecommuted an average of 3.2 days a month.

--Government, utilities and service industries, including data processing, have the highest percentages of telecommuting employees.

Who doesn't

--An estimated 99 percent of Southern California workers don't telecommute. About 79 percent drive to work alone, 14 percent carpool, 5.4 percent use public transit and 1.6 percent walk or ride a bike.

Telecommuting barriers

--Internal Revenue Service may define computers, furnishings and other equipment given to telecommuters by employers as a fringe benefit and tax employees.

--IRS rules for deducting business expenses related to working at home are limited.

--No tax benefits for employers offering telecommuting option to employees.

--Occupational Health and Safety Administration is still developing policy on home workplace safety. Employers are not currently liable.

--Americans With Disabilities Act may require employers to modify home offices or equipment. Employers also may also not discriminate against either disabled or nondisabled employees in telecommuting programs.

--Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes rules on the length of the workweek and overtime pay, may be difficult to enforce.

Sources: U.S. General Accounting Office; Southern California Association of Governments; International Telework Association and Council.

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