Federal Government Return-to-Office: Exemptions, Appeals, Costs

The federal government’s return-to-office mandate, set by a January 20, 2025 presidential memorandum, requires executive branch employees to work full-time in person at their duty stations, with exemptions available only in narrow circumstances such as a disability, a qualifying medical condition, military spouse status, or other compelling reasons certified by the agency head. Hybrid schedules and routine telework are no longer the default. Employees who refuse to return without an approved exemption face AWOL charges, discipline, and potential removal from federal service.

What the January 2025 Memorandum Requires

The current rule comes from a presidential memorandum titled “Return to In-Person Work,” signed on January 20, 2025. It directs every department and agency head to “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.”¹ Full-time is the operative phrase. Not three days a week, not a hybrid split.

The memorandum lets agency heads “make exemptions they deem necessary” and requires the directive to be “implemented consistent with applicable law.”¹ That second phrase preserves statutory protections for employees with disabilities, employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, and others with legal entitlements.

OPM’s implementation guidance is more specific. It tells agencies to revise telework policies so that eligible employees “must work full time at their respective duty stations unless excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee’s supervisor.”² Under the mandate, many agencies cancelled existing telework and remote work agreements outright. If yours was terminated, you don’t have a standalone right to keep teleworking just because you had an agreement before.

Who Can Still Work Remotely

OPM’s 2025 Guide to Telework and Remote Work identifies the categories of employees who may still be excused from full-time in-person work. Each exemption requires certification by the agency head, so nothing is automatic.

Employees with a disability or qualifying medical condition who need telework as a reasonable accommodation under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Spouses of active-duty Armed Forces members, spouses of veterans with a 100% VA disability rating, and spouses of deceased service members.³
Employees under existing remote work agreements tied to a Foreign Service member’s overseas assignment.
Employees with a critical skillset the agency wants to retain, where telework or remote work is used as a retention tool.³
Limited situations involving federal employee couples, where one spouse has a remote work agreement and the other also works for the federal government in the same geographic area.

A common trap: military spouses who previously had only routine or situational telework don’t automatically qualify. They may need to be converted to a full remote work arrangement under the exemption or apply on different grounds.³

One boundary worth naming. Caregiving responsibilities on their own don’t qualify as a basis for an exemption. OPM guidance is explicit that “telework is not meant to be a substitute for dependent care” and that employees “may not telework with the intent of or for the sole purpose of meeting their dependent care responsibilities while performing official duties.”⁴

Requesting a Disability Accommodation

For most individual employees, the realistic path to continued telework is a reasonable accommodation request under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 791.⁵ Agencies must provide reasonable accommodations for the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified employee with a disability, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.⁶

You don’t need to use specific legal language when you ask. Simply tell your agency that a medical condition makes it difficult to perform your job under the current in-person requirement.⁷ The agency then must engage in an interactive process, meaning a two-way conversation to understand your limitations and identify workable options. If your disability or its connection to the accommodation isn’t obvious, the agency can ask for medical documentation.

Telework can qualify as a reasonable accommodation even after an agency’s general telework program has been eliminated. The EEOC has stated that the obligation to modify workplace policies “might require an employer to waive certain eligibility requirements or otherwise modify its telework program for someone with a disability who needs to work at home.”⁷

You’re not guaranteed your preferred accommodation. If the agency finds full-time telework would be an undue hardship, it may offer alternatives like a modified schedule, a private workspace, or specialized equipment. What the agency cannot do is issue a blanket denial without engaging the request in good faith.

Union Contracts and Bargaining-Unit Employees

If you’re a bargaining-unit employee, the memorandum doesn’t automatically override your collective bargaining agreement. Several arbitrators have now ruled that agencies must still negotiate with unions over how they implement the return-to-office directive.

In one case, an arbitrator found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “violated statutory obligations” to bargain with the American Federation of Government Employees over implementation, and ordered CMS to negotiate over the effects on employees’ work-life balance. In an early 2026 ruling, an arbitrator ordered an agency to restore telework to pre-March 2025 levels, holding that “temporarily” suspending telework cannot mean suspending it indefinitely and that any reduction must be time-limited and tied to specific conditions.

The practical result is a patchwork. At some agencies, unionized employees have kept telework access that non-bargaining-unit colleagues have lost. Before you assume the mandate applies to you exactly as written, check with your union representative and read your current agreement.

What Happens If You Don’t Return

Without an approved exemption, refusing to report escalates quickly. The first step is typically AWOL status, a non-pay designation for any absence from duty that hasn’t been approved. AWOL applies when you were instructed to report and didn’t, when your leave request was denied and you didn’t show up, or when you failed to provide required documentation on time.⁸

AWOL is not itself a disciplinary action, but it opens the door to one. Employees who fail to report may face discipline “up to and including removal from Federal service.”⁹ Supervisors can add a “failure to follow instructions” charge on top of AWOL if they can document that you knew the leave procedures and chose not to follow them.⁸ OPM does encourage agencies to consider alternatives first, such as temporary telework, annual leave, leave without pay, or sick leave, and to make Employee Assistance Programs available.

Your Due Process Rights

You have real procedural protections before an agency can remove you. For a proposed removal or a suspension of more than 14 days, you’re entitled to at least 30 days’ advance written notice stating specific reasons, at least 7 days to respond orally and in writing with supporting evidence, the right to be represented by an attorney, and a written decision explaining the agency’s reasoning.¹⁰ Shorter suspensions of 14 days or fewer still require advance written notice and a reasonable chance to respond.

Appealing to the MSPB

If the agency removes you or takes another serious adverse action, you can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. File in writing within 30 calendar days of the action’s effective date or within 30 days of receiving the agency’s decision, whichever is later. If both sides agree to alternative dispute resolution, the deadline extends to 60 days. The agency has 20 days to respond. An administrative judge hears the case, and for most appeal types you have the right to a hearing with witnesses. The agency carries the burden of proving the action was justified.¹¹

The Financial Hit of Coming Back

Costs that disappeared during remote work are back. Parking near federal buildings runs from modest amounts in smaller cities to several hundred dollars monthly in major metros. Monthly public transit passes in metropolitan areas with large federal workforces generally range from about $55 to over $100. Childcare is often the sharpest expense, and it varies widely by state and care type.

The federal commuter transit benefit softens some of this. For 2026, the monthly tax-free exclusion is $340 for transit passes and $340 for qualified parking.¹² Not every agency participates at the maximum level, so ask your agency’s transportation coordinator what’s actually available to you.

If you were classified as a remote worker in a different geographic area, returning to your original duty station may change your locality pay. Depending on the direction of the move, your paycheck could go up or down. Talk to your HR office early about how your official worksite designation will change and what it means for your pay.

1
The White House. Return to In-Person Work
2
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guidance on Presidential Memorandum Return to In-Person Work
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guide to Telework and Remote Work in the Federal Government
4
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Dependent Care
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 791 – Employment of Individuals with Disabilities
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employment Protections Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – Section: III. Section 501
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Work at Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Addressing AWOL
9
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. General – Future of Work FAQ
10
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. What is Due Process in Federal Civil Service Employment
11
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. How to File an Appeal
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-B (2026) – Employers Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits