OPM demands agencies comply with Trump's telework order within 30 days

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Government Executive

Workforce
OPM demands agencies comply with Trump's telework order within 30 days

The State Department has already begun to implement the president's memo cancelling telework agreements as of March 1 and remote work arrangements July 1, with exceptions for military spouses and employees with disabilities.

January 23, 2025 11:24 AM ET
Erich Wagner

The Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday set a deadline of 30 days for agencies to implement President Trump's memo mandating the end to telework and remote work in the federal workplace. (1) ... On Trump's first day in office, he issued a 65-word memo ordering agencies to require employees return to in-person work "full-time." (2) But, because the document referred only to terminating "remote work agreements," it caused some confusion among agencies and government-watchers.

Telework and remote work are two distinct workplace flexibilities at federal agencies; federal workers who telework commute to the office at least twice per biweekly pay period--or more, depending on their job responsibilities--while remote workers' official duty station is typically their home and they are not expected to travel to a traditional federal facility on a regular basis. ... "We don't have a lot of clarity about what exactly they mean here, especially on the return to office," said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service on Tuesday. "It's a very short EO that just doesn't offer many answers."

In a memo Wednesday night, Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell instructed agencies to, by 5 p.m. Friday, to revise their agencywide telework policy to reflect that employees are expected to "work full time at their respective duty stations." (3) It allows for exemptions in the case of an employee disability, other qualifying medical condition or "other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor."

Ultimately, employees will have 30 days, or until late February, to "fully comply" with the order, with notable exceptions for the aforementioned exempt employees and for employees covered by collective bargaining agreements with provisions governing telework. Trump deputies and House Republicans had expressed outrage last fall after then-Social Security Administrator Martin O'Malley signed a new contract with the American Federation of Government Employees locking in existing telework policy until 2029, though management still may temporarily suspend or amend its availability.

{snip}

Eric Katz contributed to this report.

(1) https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/01/trump-agencies-should-fire-all-bureaucrats/402353/

(2) https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/return-to-in-person-work/

(3) https://www.chcoc.gov/content/guidance-presidential-memorandum-return-person-work

Read more: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/01/opm-demands-agencies-comply-trumps-telework-order-within-30-days/402436/

---

https://www.chcoc.gov/content/guidance-presidential-memorandum-return-person-work

https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/OPM%20Return%20to%20Office%20Guidance%20Memorandum%201-22-25.pdf