Donald Trump vows to fire federal employees who won't return to the office

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Published 2:55 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2024 | Updated 2:57 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2024


WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that he plans to fire any federal employees who don't physically return to their offices once his new administration begins and pledged to challenge in court a Biden-era agreement allowing for remote work.

"If people don't come back to work, come back into the office, they're going to be dismissed," Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and personal residence.

"Somebody in the Biden administration gave a five-year waiver of that, so for five years people don't have to come back into the office," he added. "It's ridiculous. It was like a gift to a union, and we're obviously going to be in court to stop it."

The Social Security Administration and more than 40,000 workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees union reached a deal earlier this month that would allow most of those employees to continue working remotely two to five days per week.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/16/trump-fire-federal-workers-remote/77026670007/

[ColinC]

1. "Its a gift to unions"

Because he is anti union? Who the hell ever thought that asshole was pro worker?

[Mr.Bill]

3. Probably most of the idiots that voted for him.

He only said it hundreds of times during the campaign. He even held a rally in front of fake union workers.

[ColinC]

5. Oh well.

It's not like the entire fate of our republic was at stake or anything

[walkingman]

2. Not sure he has the power to nullify the SS union contract which goes until 2029.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Ha ha ha.

Who will stop him?

[Mr.Bill]

7. Maybe if we're lucky,

about 50 union lawyers that have about 50 IQ points on Trump's lawyers.

[Irish_Dem]

8. 1000 lawyers won't change the mind of a bought and paid for Supreme Court.

[SurfLiberal]

13. Doesn't matter

Make em fight for every yard.

[Wiz Imp]

9. He doesn't. He can't just fire people with no cause.

If there is a legitimate reason to end or cut back telework, then employees can be ordered back into the office (assuming it's a provable necessity). But it has to be done in accordance with the union contract or otherwise with cooperation with the union. Even Musk understands this. Musk didn't say anything about firing people, he just believes and hopes that the mere threat of requiring in-office work will cause a lot of people to quit.

As has been pointed out repeatedly, telework for government employees saves money and increases productivity, so changing the telework policy runs completely counter to their stated goal of making government more efficient.

[FBaggins]

17. Re: "Provable necessity"

The question is "who do they need to prove it to?" - they're now the ones that set policy (absent a couple of the examples here where there is now a contract obligation)

It doesn't necessarily matter that remote work can save money and/or increase productivity. They could justify it on the basis of the impact on the broader downtown economy (commercial real estate markets... downtown businesses... etc.)

[womanofthehills]

15. He talked about moving agencies out of DC

Can he move a whole agency to someplace like rural Oklahoma?

[HereForTheParty]

6. Thinning the herd

Employers issue back to work orders anticipating people will quit.

[walkingman]

10. I worry they could use vindictive means like transfers, etc. probably all contractual to intimidate.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

11. How about firing employees who spend most of their time on a golf course...

...and cheat at the game, to boot.

[choie]

12. I'd wager that the average SSA employee

working remotely gets more work done in a day than trump has done in the last 8 years. He’s being punitive for punitive’s sake. Anything to make a federal employee miserable.

[Roy Rolling]

14. Of Course

A sleazy, money grubbing slumlord would want tenants to return to rented office space. His whole life is built upon losers paying rent in his overpriced hovels.

[bmichaelh]

16. Trump is so paranoid

I started working from home before COVID.

My employer did not want to break the law.

I have Crohns disease and my employer could not make an accommodation for me; so I work from home.

Trump may not be able to enforce it for every employee.

He is also the mindset that he does not trust employees to work from home.

The guy who took confidential documents to his residences after he left the presidency and refuse to give them back.