 "US President Donald Trump wants federal workers to return to office. Reuters")
United States President Donald Trump is done with Work From Home (WFH) and wants federal employees to return to office. After being sworn in on Monday (January 20), he signed an executive order directing all federal workers to return to in-person work five days a week.
The move will force many white-collar government employees to abandon remote work, which became a norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, he had warned that federal workers who refused to work from office were “going to be dismissed.”
Now, Trump has ordered the heads of all federal agencies to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements” and require employees to report to “their respective duty stations” full-time. The order says the directive “shall be implemented consistent with applicable law.”
Trump’s decision is expected to trigger uproar and legal challenges from unions.
Can Trump ban WFH for federal employees?
It depends. The president has broad authority over the federal workforce, including the power to tell agencies to stop allowing remote work for employees who are not unionized. That includes supervisors and managers, who cannot join unions, and Trump could move quickly to order them back to the office.
But, about 26 per cent of federal employees are unionized and many are covered by bargaining agreements that allow for remote work or hybrid arrangements. The Trump administration will have to wait for those to expire or try to renegotiate the agreements. Bargaining agreements between federal agencies and unions can only be challenged in court if they contain illegal terms or were the product of coercion, bribery or some other wrongdoing.
In some cases, federal agencies may also be required to allow employees with disabilities to work remotely. Federal law requires employers to grant “reasonable accommodations” to workers with chronic medical conditions as long as they can still perform their job duties.
How many federal employees do WFH?
The Trump White House said on Monday that only 6 per cent of federal employees currently work in person, but government data shows that remote work is more limited. About 46 per cent of federal workers, or 1.1 million people, are eligible for remote work, and about 228,000 of them are fully remote, according to a report issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget in August.
The US Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs, which have far more employees than other agencies, have the most remote workers, along with the Department of Health and Human Services. For federal employees who are eligible for remote work, about 61 per cent of regular working hours are spent in person, according to OMB. That figure excludes fully remote workers.
Why Trump is against remote work?
Trump ’s order may also represent an effort to encourage some federal workers to quit, opening up positions that can be filled by political loyalists.
Elon Musk, who will lead a commission created by Trump to rein in government spending, said in a Nov. 20 Wall Street Journal opinion piece that federal workers should not be paid for “the COVID-era privilege” of telework. “Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,” Musk wrote.
But, agencies may be leery of engaging in a large number of firings or layoffs, especially when they involve workers who hold important roles or are difficult to replace.
Trump’s agenda, including potentially repealing thousands of federal regulations, coordinating a large number of deportations, and overhauling US health policy, will require fully staffed agencies to execute. Experts said that in many instances, Trump will likely have to choose between culling the federal workforce and carrying out other initiatives.
Can workers be sacked for not retuning to office?
The president and agency heads have broad authority to fire non-union workers for cause, which could include defying a mandate to return to the office. But federal employees must be given written notice that they are being fired at least 30 days in advance, including an explanation of the reason for their termination and an opportunity to respond.
And federal workers who lose their jobs can bring a challenge before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent three-member panel appointed by the president, seeking to be reinstated. Employees could argue to the board that they were not fired for cause, that agencies did not follow the proper procedures and violated their due process rights, or that they were targeted for discriminatory reasons. The board’s decisions are binding unless they are set aside by a federal appeals court.
With inputs from Reuters