House Judiciary, Oversight Committees to Hold Joint Hearing on Alleged PTO Abuse
The House Judiciary and House Oversight committees plan a joint hearing Nov. 18 on the alleged abuses within the Patent and Trademark Office’s employee telework program, said a joint news release Monday. The hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m. in…
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Rayburn 2151. “USPTO officials reportedly removed damaging information from an internal report to avoid disclosure of abuses in the telework program, including instances where employees repeatedly lied about work hours and received bonuses for work they did not do,” it said. “It is alleged that employees responsible for wrongdoing reportedly faced little or no consequences for their actions,” it said. “The reports of abuses in the Patent and Trademark Office’s telework program are startling and disturbing,” said Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “The upcoming hearing will allow our Members to examine what happened and explore ways to ensure that this kind of misuse of government resources does not recur,” he said. “The benefits of eliminating commutes and offering employees flexible hours are obvious, but there are serious concerns that the Federal government is not able to oversee gross abuses by employees looking to game the system,” said Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.