Trump Memo Attacks, Restricts Labor Agreements on Telework

President Trump has issued a memo that places further restrictions on telework.

New Memo Addresses Labor Contract Provisions Designed to Allow Continued Telework

President Trump has issued a new memo to federal agencies. The title is Limiting Lame-Duck Collective Bargaining Agreements That Improperly Attempt to Constrain the New President.

As the title implies, this memo is a directive for agencies to disapprove contracts recently negotiated 30 days before President Trump took office. Here is a quote from the memo regarding collective bargaining agreements (CBAs):

[I]t is the policy of the executive branch that CBAs executed in the 30 days prior to the inauguration of a new President, and that purport to remain in effect despite the inauguration of a new President and administration, shall not be approved.

His memo singles out one agency that recently negotiated such an agreement:

In the final days of the prior administration’s tenure, it purposefully finalized collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with Federal employees in an effort to harm my Administration by extending its wasteful and failing policies beyond its time in office. For example, the Department of Education negotiated a CBA on January 17, 2025 — 3 days before I took office — that generally prohibits the agency from returning remote employees to their offices.

The memo is, in part, referring to federal labor union contracts designed to “Trump-proof” existing arrangements for telework by federal employees.

For example, the Social Security Administration under previous commissioner Martin O’Malley, signed off on contract amendments to telework provisions shortly after the presidential election in November 2024. The amended contract struck out the Deputy Commissioners’ existing authority over telework. It inserted a new requirement that the Trump Administration’s appointees, “adhere to the current number of telework days, eligible positions, and percentage of employees permitted to telework as of the date of this agreement until October 25, 2029.”

What Does the Memo Direct Agencies to Do?

The new memo from President Trump also states:

Such CBAs inhibit the President’s authority to manage the executive branch by tying his hands with inefficient and ineffective practices. The Supreme Court has explained that a President “cannot choose to bind his successors by diminishing their powers.”

With this background, what are agencies to do? It is clear that the contracts negotiated in the last 30 days will not be followed. This presumably means agency employees covered by a labor contract that allowed them to continue working at home instead of in a federal office will be void.

In other words, if a person is now working at home, thinking that will remain in effect for the duration of the Trump administration, he or she will have to go back to work in a federal office if the contract was negotiated in the 30 days before Trump took office.

Also, if a contract with telework provisions was negotiated recently (even if more than 30 days before the President took office), agencies are directed not to approve that contract.

What about contracts negotiated outside the 30-day window, such as the one negotiated as the Social Security Administration? The memo does not specifically state what will happen.

There is not a central database available listing when various labor agreements were negotiated or amended. It is a safe bet that most of them were implemented within the 30-day period covered by the new memo. That information on the implementation date of these contracts is presumably available to the White House staff and that 30-day period may have been selected for that reason.

Pressure is On to End Most Telework in the Federal Government

This memo is the latest restriction to eliminate or seriously erode the use of telework in the federal government.

As noted in this article and in FedSmith videos, another program was just announced encouraging people to resign and to be able to work for months with pay and benefits but without having to go to work. These people can work at home or can go on vacation and not work according to guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This is called “Deferred Resignation“.

President Trump is also directing action to end DEI offices and programs and to terminate people working in these positions. There is another program just announced that will identify all probationary employees now in government. These people can be terminated easily without the usual appeal rights.

One last program that may be significant is “Schedule F” with a new name now being assigned to an older idea that emerged during the first Trump administration. This program could move a large number of federal employees involving policy-making, policy-influencing, policy explanation positions, and others into jobs that do not have the more restrictive appeal rights for other career employees.

These four programs and the new memo could result in eliminating several hundred thousand people from the federal government payroll. They will also likely severely limit the use of telework in government as the deferred resignation program will encourage some who strongly prefer working at home to quit rather than return to office work.

What Comes Next?

What comes next may depend on how successful the deferred resignation program works. It may also depend on how many probationary federal employees are terminated and how many DEI positions are ultimately eliminated.

One guess about future executive orders or memos to agencies is that much more restrictive performance standards will be implemented. Employees are already being advised to resign now and get more money—and you won’t be subject to higher performance standards and won’t have to work in an office. That may tempt many people to leave. Or, if a person thinks his or her performance may not be up to whatever standards are issued, they may decide to leave now rather than being fired later.

In the first two weeks of the Trump administration, there have already been many surprises. No doubt, more will be coming soon!

About the Author

Ralph Smith has several decades of experience working with federal human resources issues. He has written extensively on a full range of human resources topics in books and newsletters and is a co-founder of two companies and several newsletters on federal human resources. Follow Ralph on Twitter: @RalphSmith47