Thousands of Veterans Affairs employees must return to work by the end of the month.
In response to a Jan. 20 directive from Donald Trump, the VA announced that eligible employees must work full-time in their facilities. This affects roughly 96,000 employees who now work remotely.
In the present, more than 20% of the VA’s 479,000 employees work remotely.
There will be exemptions to the requirement. This includes those who have a disability, medical condition, or other “compelling reason.”
This also includes military spouses who receive permanent change of station, or PCS, orders.
“This is a commonsense step toward treating all VA employees equally,” Acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter said in a statement. “Most VA clinical staff don’t have the luxury of working remotely. We believe the performance, collaboration, and productivity of the department will improve if all VA employees are held to the same standard.
Supervisors who telework within 50 miles of a VA facility must also return to work. All remote work agreements will end on the 24th of February.
Additionally, employees who are not union members and work within 50 miles of an agency facility have until April 28th to return to their stations.
Trump is directing federal department heads to terminate remote work arrangements “as soon as practicable.” The president made it clear he wants employees to work at their respective duty stations full-time.
Critics of Trump’s policy say that the number of federal employees who telework has been exaggerated.
Todd Hunter sent an email to all VA employees saying the department would offer employees the chance to submit a “deferred resignation” by February 6 and get paid through September 30.
