National Science Foundation employees recently displaced from their former headquarters building will soon be expected to show up to their new office space — regardless of their disabilities or medical conditions, according to NSF employees and their union.
The American Federation of Government Employees says NSF management is insisting all employees try out the new office space without their previously established reasonable accommodations.
According to the union, NSF management is asking all employees to return to the office, because the medical necessity of these reasonable accommodations has not yet been “tested” in the new building.
Two NSF employees told Federal News Network that almost all staff are currently teleworking until renovations of their new headquarters are complete.
An NSF spokesperson told Federal News Network in a statement that the agency “prioritizes the health and safety of its staff and remains committed to fulfilling all legal obligations under the Rehabilitation Act.”
“Exercising due diligence, NSF continues to implement the reasonable accommodation process and assess the new workplace environment while most of its staff are teleworking during the transition to its new headquarters,” the spokesperson said.
An NSF employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation, said NSF is pursuing these changes as part of the Trump administration’s requirement to have federal employees work in the office full-time.
Agencies are required under the Rehabilitation Act to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, as long as that accommodation does not result in “undue hardship” for agencies.
“That new building is not a special station. It’s a building that looks exactly like the old one,” the NSF employee said. “It’s ridiculous. If someone has cancer or a major disability, it doesn’t change just because you’re in a different office. It’s just a way for them to move from, ‘We’re cancelling the reasonable accommodations,’ to ‘Now you have to reapply.’”
According to the NSF employee, staff have been told in recent meetings that telework and remote work as a reasonable accommodation will no longer be approved.
Other agencies have restricted telework and remote work for employees with disabilities and other medical needs.
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services and its component agencies rescinded existing reasonable accommodations that included telework and directed impacted employees to reapply. HHS is currently reviewing a backlog of 9,000 reasonable accommodation requests that will take six to nine months to complete.
AFGE Local 3403, which represents NSF employees, said in a statement that these changes could push out more staffing, after losing a third of its workforce under the Trump administration.
“They may not leave right away because they haven’t found a job, but this is a matter of time. Others don’t have a choice,” the NSF employee said.
NSF manages billions of dollars annually in federal spending on basic research. Many of its employees review complex research proposals from scientists and engineers from universities and the private sector.
“We are supposed to be an evidence-based agency,” the NSF employee said. “But this is how we treat employees.”
Last year, the Trump administration announced the Department of Housing and Urban Development would move out of its underutilized headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., and take over NSF’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. HUD employees are now working in NSF’s former offices.
Last November, the General Services Administration announced that NSF employees would be relocated to leased office space near their old headquarters.
The Office of Personnel Management told all agencies in February that they should not take a “blanket approach” to rescinding or denying telework accommodations.
“We strongly caution agencies against revoking previously granted telework without first making an individualized determination in each case,” OPM wrote.
OPM Director Scott Kupor estimated in a recent blog post that governmentwide, about 10% of federal employees have received exemptions from Trump’s return-to-office orders.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that, “When the nation’s largest employer starts treating disability rights like an administrative burden rather than the law of the land, every American worker with a medical need is in jeopardy.”
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