The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appears to be holding off, at least for the time being, on its decision earlier this week to stop approving employees’ telework requests, according to internal agency emails obtained by Federal News Network.

In a message Thursday afternoon, CDC’s HR office told agency managers not to take any immediate action on the new agency policy for reasonable accommodations, as the office seeks further clarification on “various implementation issues” from the Department of Health and Human Services’ updated telework policy.

The email from HR on Thursday appears to at least temporarily reverse CDC’s update from earlier in the week. Federal News Network has reached out to both HHS and CDC for comment. On Tuesday, CDC initially said that it would be indefinitely pausing all approvals of CDC employees’ requests to telework for reasonable accommodations, a move that drew significant opposition from federal unions for its impact on employees with disabilities.

The American Federation of Government Employees earlier this week demanded an immediate reversal of CDC’s decision. Yolanda Jacobs, president of AFGE Local 2883, which represents CDC employees, called the update from the agency on Thursday “a step in the right direction.”

“For the sake of the hundreds of employees with disabilities who would be severely impacted by a return to their recent stance, I hope the agency continues to do the right thing, the legal thing,” Jacobs said in a statement to Federal News Network. “I would also hope they will do a better job of communicating the updated stance to employees, some whom are still worried sick they’ll need to report to the office on Monday.”

The union argued that pausing approvals of reasonable accommodations requests violates multiple laws protecting federal employees with disabilities — including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

“This represents the most sweeping civil rights violation against federal employees in decades,” AFGE Locals 2883 and 3840, which represent CDC employees, said in a press statement Wednesday. “This means no CDC employee with a disability will have the option of telework as a reasonable accommodation.”

In a Sept. 16 memo to CDC employees, obtained by Federal News Network, the agency said all approvals of reasonable accommodations to telework, as well as long-term telework arrangements, would be suspended “until further notice.” CDC said the decision comes as it is requesting clarification on the HHS’ new telework policy, which became effective Aug. 13.

Only one section of the new HHS telework policy mentions reasonable accommodations — and only in relation to preclusions from traveling to an agency worksite. CDC said as it seeks to clarify the details of HHS’s new policy, it would pause all further approvals for employees to telework, but provided no end date for the suspension.

A spokesperson for HHS said Thursday that CDC is currently adhering to the new department policy, as well as President Donald Trump’s return-to-office order from January.

The HHS policy update came in response to Trump’s order on his first day in office for agencies to end all telework and remote work agreements and return all federal employees to fully on-site work. In the months since, many agencies have moved forward with requiring previously teleworking employees to report to work on-site. CDC officially implemented its full return-to-office requirements last month, just days after a gunman fired over 180 times at the agency’s headquarters building in Atlanta, Georgia.

Shortly after Trump’s return-to-office order in January, the Office of Personnel Management clarified that agency employees can be excused from on-site work requirements “due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason,” as long as both the agency head and the employee’s supervisor certify the exemption. The Trump administration said exceptions would also be carved out for military spouses and others whose reasonable accommodation requests are approved.

But in practice, AFGE said that’s often not the case at CDC.

“There is no evidence that CDC is formally processing reasonable accommodations requests at all,” the union wrote in Wednesday’s press release. “Many members have been waiting since March 2025 to receive updates on a formal decision regarding their [reasonable accommodation] request.”

For the time being, CDC employees who have already received approval for telework arrangements can continue to work remotely until those arrangements expire, the agency said in its memo earlier this week. But AFGE raised concerns that once the temporary accommodations end, any employees with disabilities who had previously been permitted to telework would be negatively impacted by the changes.

The union also pointed to part of Trump’s initial return-to-office order that said to follow “all applicable laws,” as well as subsequent Trump administration guidance that told agencies to maintain telework in cases of approved reasonable accommodation requests due to a disability.

“HHS and CDC have already failed disabled employees for more than five months by refusing to formally process reasonable accommodation requests — another clear violation of federal law that requires timely processing,” AFGE said. “Additionally, employees with disabilities are at risk of retaliatory discrimination, disciplinary actions, and loss of essential workplace accommodations.”

In August, HHS also moved forward with “de-recognizing” its federal unions and canceling all collective bargaining agreements in response to orders from the White House earlier this year.

AFGE Locals 2883 and 3840 said this week they are looking at “every legal remedy and recourse” in an attempt to reverse CDC’s decision to pause reasonable accommodations approvals.