Employees at the VA, Pennsylvania’s largest federal employer, must return to in-person work this spring or summer
Both bargaining unit and nonbargaining unit employees at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs must return to the office by May 5 or July 28, depending on their proximity to a federal office space.
Federal employees at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which employs the largest share of government workers in Pennsylvania, have received guidance on when they must return to in-person work.
Employees — in both bargaining and non-bargaining units — must return to the office by May 5 if they are located within 50 miles of a federal office space, while those who are outside those geographical parameters have until July 28, according to a Friday morning email from VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins obtained by The Inquirer.
The VA has 19,389 employees in Pennsylvania and dozens of facilities, including medical centers, community service programs, and benefits administration offices.
The message to employees comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed on his first day in office, mandating federal employees to forgo the telework accommodations they have become accustomed to in favor of daily in-person work. Since then, Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have engaged in other actions that have shaken up the federal workforce.
Earlier this month, the VA alerted certain employees — including but not limited to political appointments, senior-level workers, and scientific and professional employees — they would be required to return to the office by Feb. 24 along with supervisors. Initially, most non-bargaining unit employees were told they must begin their in-person work by April 28, but now it appears the VA has extended that deadline.
As of March 2024, 48.9% of Pennsylvania’s VA employees were eligible for telework, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Certain exemptions and extensions for these deadlines will be made, according to the department. Those who don’t comply “are in violation of agency direction and will be charged absent without leave.” Disciplinary actions, including termination, are possible, according to Collins’ email Friday.
On Feb. 13, the VA announced the firing of more than 1,000 employees, including non-bargaining unit probationary workers. The department claims the move will save more than $98 million per year.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — the largest federal employee union, representing 800,000 government workers — said in a statement earlier this month it believes Trump’s return to in-person work mandate is violating the law by “encouraging agencies to ignore collective bargaining agreements.”
“Union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements,” AFGE national president Everett Kelley said in the statement. “AFGE members will not be intimidated. If our contracts are violated, we will aggressively defend them.”
A Jan. 31 White House memo indicated that the Trump administration does not plan to honor collective bargaining agreements reached in the last month before his inauguration.
The union and federal workers in Philadelphia have been wrestling with the aftermath of other measures taken by the Trump administration to overhaul the federal government, including hiring freezes, an increasing number of layoffs, and a chance to resign with eight months’ pay.