Will remote federal employees in SF have to return to office after Trump order?

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- President Donald Trump is ordering federal employees eligible to work remotely to go back to the office. An executive order was signed right after his inauguration.

"The president's executive order is really broad, and it covers all federal employees seemingly, but some federal employees are unionized," said Natalia Ramirez Lee, UC Law San Francisco Assistant Professor of Law.

The White House published more details urging heads of departments and agencies:

"In the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary. This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law."

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This executive action is sending shock waves throughout the federal government.

"When it comes to non-unionized employees the president has really broad authority to regulate their work conditions and their arrangements," said assistant professor Ramirez Lee. "When it comes to unionized employees a lot of those unionized employees have remote work provisions within their collective bargaining agreements and so it's going to be a much longer and difficult fight."

The American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents over 750,000 employees of the federal government responded to the executive order.

"Whether AFGE will file a lawsuit depends on how it is implemented," they said in a statement. "If they violate our contracts, we will take appropriate action to uphold our rights."

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In 2023, San Francisco federal employees were told to work from home amid the crime and drug use outside of their building in the SoMa neighborhood a hot spot for drug users and dealers.

As of Tuesday, the fences to keep people out are still up.

"There is a multitude of things that Donald Trump is doing that I'm in disagreement with, but one of the things that I agree with is let's get people back to the office," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

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According to a report by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 54% of federal employees work fully on-site. That's about 1.2 million workers.

"The remaining 1.1 million or 46.4% of civilian personnel were telework-eligible of the total 2.28 million personnel, 228 thousand or 10% of civilian personnel were in remote positions where there was no expectation that they worked in-person on any regular or recurring basis."

Supervisor Dorsey who represents the district where the federal building is located believes the executive action will help small businesses.

"It's better for our economy certainly for a city like San Francisco," said Supervisor Dorsey.

Professor Ramirez Lee believes this is the beginning of a bigger strategy.

"The Trump administration has been very explicit in that they are doing this as a form of attrition," said Professor Ramirez Lee.