An arbitrator has ordered telework and remote work restoration for nearly 20,000 Forest Service employees, but the agency still has time to file an appeal.
A third-party arbitrator is ordering the Forest Service to restore telework and remote work agreements for close to 20,000 employees represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees.
In a decision issued Friday, Arbitrator Robert T. Simmelkjaer ruled that the Forest Service violated its collective bargaining agreement with NFFE, as well as the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, when the agency issued return-to-office orders for employees in early 2025.
Simmelkjaer determined that the Forest Service’s actions breached multiple union contract provisions. That includes one requiring union negotiations over changes in employment conditions, and another defining the parameters for changes to employee telework and remote work arrangements.
“The agency’s violation was a clear and patent breach that went to the heart of the parties’ agreement,” the decision reads.
The arbitrator also found that the Forest Service’s actions constituted an unfair labor practice and amounted to a prohibited personnel practice, in violation of merit system principles. In addition to ordering the restoration of telework and remote work, the July 10 decision calls for the Forest Service to restore leave balances and give employees who left their jobs due to the in-office work orders an opportunity to rejoin the agency. The Forest Service is also being told to post a signed notice admitting that it violated its contract with NFFE.
The Forest Service now has 30 days to decide if it wants to appeal the arbitrator’s ruling. The agency did not respond to Federal News Network’s request for comment on the ruling or its next steps.
While acknowledging that the agency has the right to appeal, NFFE said in a press release Friday, “The union will ensure the ruling is implemented as quickly as possible.”
The Forest Service informed employees in early March 2025 that it would be implementing in-office work orders, before broadly rescinding telework and remote work agreements in the following months. The requirements stemmed from President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order to return federal employees to the office full-time and end telework and remote work agreements, “consistent with applicable law.”
In March 2025, NFFE quickly filed a grievance and an unfair labor practice charge against the agency, arguing that the return-to-office orders violated federal statute and the collective bargaining agreement, which is in effect until June 2029.
The collective bargaining agreement states that management can “change, suspend or terminate” a telework agreement based only on performance or conduct. Any changes to the arrangements also require advance notice and the reason for the change.
The union argued that the Forest Service did not use one of the specific, required reasons that the agency can deem employees ineligible for telework or remote work. The 2025 return-to-office orders were unilateral and not based on individual employees’ performance or conduct, NFFE said.
“Nothing in the parties’ master agreement gave the agency the right to unilaterally cancel telework and/or remote work agreements without regard to employees’ individual circumstances, nor was such action ever contemplated by the parties during the negotiations,” the union wrote.
The Forest Service has maintained that rescinding the telework and remote work agreements did not violate the union contract, “or any regulation, rule or policy in implementing President Trump’s return to office executive order.”
Management has the right to change or terminate telework and remote work arrangements, the Forest Service said in the arbitration document. The agency argued that it fulfilled the union contract requirements by providing advance notice and a reason for the change, which was “due to the executive order.”
The Forest Service added that it “had no choice regarding whether or not it implemented the directives set forth in the presidential memo and therefore had no duty to bargain over the changes.”
Independent arbitrators have ruled in unions’ favor in other recent cases involving return-to-office requirements, including at both the departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development.
The arbitrator’s decision on Friday comes as many Forest Service employees are facing upcoming relocations as part of a major reorganization plan across the Agriculture Department.
“This favorable decision could not have come at a better time,” NFFE Forest Service Council President Genny Kotyk said Friday. “Our employees are currently being threatened to move across the country and uproot their lives — supposedly to cut costs — or being forced to leave the agency. With telework and remote work agreements lawfully reimplemented, many employees will be relieved of having to make that difficult decision, while also saving taxpayers the substantial cost to relocate.”
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11
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