President Trump has signed many executive orders on his first day back in office, and one of the actions he took was to require executive branch federal employees to return to full-time, in-person work. This was not a surprise based on reports that surfaced a few days ago.

Memo on Returning to In-Person Work

The memorandum does not specifically delineate between telework and remote work. It states:

Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.

This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law.

Return to In-Person Work – January 20, 2025

It appears that the memo may apply to both remote work and telework, but it’s not directly stated. It also allows for exemptions deemed necessary by agency leadership, so this might include allowances for reasonable accommodation or collective bargaining agreements.

Presumably, the Office of Personnel Management will issue guidance soon that outlines how agencies should implement the memo, so final interpretation will depend on that.

Update: OPM issued its initial guidance on the president’s memo on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. For details, see OPM Issues Guidance on President’s Return to In-Person Work Memo.

What About Bargaining Agreements That Allow for Telework?

The issue of ending telework for federal employees is complicated by collective bargaining agreements with federal employee unions that allow for telework at some agencies. For example, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) signed an agreement with the Social Security Administration before Trump took office to set current levels of telework at the agency through 2029 which is estimated to impact about 42,000 federal workers.

While the president has authority to issue executive orders that carry the force of law concerning federal labor unions, including collective bargaining, these orders cannot take away the right of the unions to bargain with federal agencies, so this will have to be addressed. 

For federal employees who are not in a bargaining unit, such as supervisors and managers, they can be required to return to their offices full time and that could happen quickly.

FedSmith author Ralph Smith is a former labor relations officer and he has speculated about what is likely to happen with respect to the collective bargaining agreements. He notes that once supervisors and managers are ordered to return to the office, the pressure will mount on other employees to do so as well.

There are different scenarios that will arise though. For instance, he said that an agency may determine that some employees have to be in the office to perform the duties of their jobs. Those employees could file grievances, but it may be necessary for them to work in-person at their offices while the grievances are being processed. 

Some employees may be able to continue working at home under a reasonable accommodation.

Other employees who are eligible to retire and who do not want to return to work in an office may end up retiring.

Smith notes that in these scenarios, the number of people going back to work in an office will increase, and pressure will increase on those still not going to an office to return to work. The implication may be that if they continue to work at home, with an attitude by management that these people cannot perform their jobs satisfactorily, awards and promotions may more easily be given to those working in an office.

He says, however, that each scenario is likely to vary among different federal agencies depending on their union contracts.