Federal workers and their allies are examining civil service laws and union contracts to prepare challenges to President-elect
Democracy Forward and the Government Accountability Project, national nonprofits that offer legal services and whistleblower protections, are lining up federal workers to serve as plaintiffs in potential lawsuits challenging Trump’s promise to classify thousands of federal workers as “Schedule F” employees who can be fired at will, said Tom Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project. The groups are also outlining steps required by law to fire federal workers and reviewing union contracts for worker protection provisions, he said.
“If Trump doesn’t follow them, they will be very good challenges in court,” Devine said.
Democracy Forward, along with unions representing tens of thousands of educators, health-care providers, and public sector office workers, will launch what they call a “legal response network” for employees if they lose their jobs after Trump takes office, according to a Dec. 19 statement from the group.
Trump has promised to fire federal workers who don’t report to the office after he takes power Jan. 20 and drastically reshape the civilian public workforce of 2 million people.
Return to Office
Trump on Dec. 16 said that workers that don’t come to the office are “going to be dismissed.”
More than one million federal employees—almost half of the civilian workforce—were eligible to work remotely at least part of the time as of May 2024, according to a Biden administration report. Around 10% of that workforce was entirely remote.
Civil service law requires agencies give the employee a 30-day warning that they’re at risk of termination, making it harder for his team to immediately fire federal workers that don’t report to the office. Agencies must give the worker at least seven days to respond orally or in writing, according to the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, before they officially dismiss them. The agency can skip the procedures if they believe the employee committed a crime that could land them in prison, it says.
“There’s nothing exotic, unusual, or unlawful about any administration ordering these employees back into a specific work location,” unless they have a disability or their union contract prohibits it, said Kevin Owen, a Gilbert Employment Law P.C. partner who oversees civil service litigation.
The Biden administration earlier this month locked in work-from-home arrangements for thousands of Social Security Administration employees until 2029. Trump pledged to challenge the deal in court, and his allies have said they can reverse it.
“All new proclamations made by executive fiat can be reversed by executive fiat,” Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leader of Trump’s planned Department of Government Efficiency—the group set to overhaul federal spending—said in a post on X.
Agencies with tens of thousands of employees have explicitly said full-time remote work arrangements aren’t a given. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, with more than 8,600 workers, in a 2022 statement emphasized that managers get to decide if employees can work from home. The Justice Department requires its employees to work in person a minimum of six days per two-week pay period, though some managers mandate more in-office work.
“Participation in telework or remote work is voluntary and not an employee right or entitlement,” the department’s policy states.
Worker Protections
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal agencies provide “reasonable accommodations” to disabled workers, such as permission to work from home for a medical reason. The US government employed 259,000 people who said they have a disability when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tallied it in 2018.
The Biden administration extended the same protection to pregnant employees in the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act enacted in June 2023, and the EEOC said that includes the option to work from home when necessary.
“This idea of return to work or you’re fired is not that simple,” said Michelle Bercovici, an employment law attorney who represents federal workers.
If Trump goes through with firing employees that don’t report to offices, they can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that is still recovering from leadership gaps. The US government doesn’t pay dismissed employees while the board considers their situation, according to a 2015 memo.
They can also file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employees covered by union contracts may have additional options to file a grievance, according to the Office of Personnel Management, the chief human resources agency for the federal government.
Workers hired in the last year typically don’t have the same options as longer-tenured employees, Owen said.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement that AFGE “will be prepared to enforce our rights” if the incoming administration violates agency agreements with his members. The union represents 800,000 federal workers nationwide.
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