A third-party arbitrator has ruled that leadership at the Department of Housing and Urban Development violated AFGE’s contract when it cancelled telework for nearly all bargaining unit employees last year.
In response to President Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order calling on agencies to terminate remote work arrangements and require in-person attendance on a full-time basis, HUD issued a directive on Jan. 24 unilaterally terminating nearly all regular and routine telework agreements and ordering bargaining unit employees to report to their official worksites full‑time beginning in late February 2025.
AFGE Council 222, which represents about 7,000 bargaining unit employees across HUD, filed a grievance with the assistance of AFGE’s General Counsel’s Office asserting that HUD had violated the telework and mid-term bargaining articles in its collective bargaining agreement and committed an unfair labor practice. Employees are allowed to telework up to four days per week under the current contract, and changes to that schedule must be based on valid business needs or performance issues – not on managerial preference or arbitrary decisions. The contract also stipulates that any proposed changes to the telework policy must be negotiated first with the union.
The arbitrator agreed with AFGE, ruling on Feb. 18 that HUD’s across-the-board cancellation of telework violated our contract and constituted an unfair labor practice under the Federal Service Labor‑Management Relations Statute. The arbitrator further held that Trump’s executive order did not justify HUD’s actions or relieve the agency of its bargaining and contractual obligations.
The arbitrator ordered HUD to reinstate all regular and routine telework arrangements that were in place as of Jan. 20, 2025, no later than the first full pay period following the ruling. Employees who previously teleworked up to four days per week are entitled to resume that schedule, subject to the same eligibility and performance criteria that applied before the 2025 return‑to‑office directive. The arbitrator also directed HUD to post notices acknowledging its violations and to reimburse employees for increased commuting and dependent‑care expenses incurred as a result of the unlawful rollback – potentially offering substantial monetary relief while deterring future violations.
AFGE Council 222 President Antonio Gaines said the council is pleased by the ruling but expects management to appeal the arbitrator’s ruling to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
“We are ecstatic, but we are measuring our enthusiasm,” Gaines said in an interview with Federal News Network. “You can imagine how much excitement that decision brought to the union and to our members, but we’re in a holding pattern. We’re in the process of trying to set the right expectation.”
Although the arbitrator’s decision in the HUD case does not create binding precedent under the FLRA, it underscores an important legal principle: a presidential return‑to‑office memorandum cannot override statutory bargaining rights or contractual telework provisions.
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