Overseas Telework

Telework is a workplace flexibility that allows an employee to perform work, during any part of the employee’s regular, paid duty hours, at an approved alternative worksite. When an employee requests permission to telework a domestic position from overseas, for any duration, he or she must have a signed DETO agreement and Chief of Mission approval.

Overseas telework that requires a DETO agreement is distinct from mobile work, which can encompass a range of scenarios.  For example, an employee who is overseas on leave may check his or her work email, touch base with a supervisor, call into a meeting, or log into a work account to accomplish a discrete task such as clearing a document. This would be considered performing mobile work and not telework.  In addition, an employee who is overseas on a TDY assignment might log in and attend to some of his or her domestic work while overseas.  This would also be considered mobile work.  The State Department understands that an employee on leave or on TDY travel overseas sometimes conducts brief spates of mobile work, and this type of work does not require a DETO agreement.  

However, an employee who has moved overseas or is traveling overseas and intends to fully carry-out his or her job functions during workday(s) from an overseas location is considered to be teleworking and must have an approved DETO arrangement in place.