01/22/2025

Under New Administration, Federal Workers Fear Job Cuts, RTO Mandates

Trump signed several executive orders aimed at the federal workforce

Federal workers are scrambling to make sense of the flurry of decrees issued Monday evening by President Donald Trump, parsing through emails from interim agency heads and skimming reports of lawsuits filed by unions to try to understand whether they have to report to work in person, or if they will soon have a job at all.

The executive orders and memos strip employment protections from tens of thousands of federal workers, institute a hiring freeze, instruct agency leaders to send the White House a list of employees under probation, and give all federal agencies 60 days to shutter offices and positions related to diversity, equity and inclusion practices. An executive action appears to ban remote work — when an employee’s official workplace is at their home or rented space far from an agency headquarters or regional office — with some exemptions.

The return-to-office executive order mystified employees and their supervisors, who are trying to parse whether it also affects telework, which is when employees who are based in an office work from home. On Monday night, Google searches for "federal workers return to office" (RTO) spiked by more than 600 percent — with the most interest in the D.C. region, where 15 percent of federal workers are based.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.