Why thousands of federal employees can no longer work from home as they make horrifying discoveries upon office return

Thousands of remote working federal employees have been told that they must return to the office or face being fired.

Since the pandemic, it's believed that around half of all US federal employees having been doing their jobs from home for at least some of the working week.

But some people have been met with questionable working conditions, since being ordered to return to in-person work, with staffers complaining of an alleged lack of space, equipment and cleanliness.

Some employees have been met with cockroaches and rat infestations upon their return to the office, USA Today reports, and people have been faced with bringing their own toilet paper and paper towels to use because there's no supplies.

Why are people having to return to the office?

If the so many offices seemingly aren't equipped for people to work from, you might wonder why they cannot continue to work from home.

Donald Trump has ordered for almost all federal employees to return to in-person work (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Well, before becoming president again, Donald Trump had spoke of wanting to enforce office work again.

He wasted no time in bringing this in either, and on his Inauguration Day issued a memorandum that called for federal employees to return to in-person work.

The directive, published on January 20, read: "Heads of all 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."

It's believed different agencies may have been given different deadlines for when this was supposed to happen, with the likes of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staffers making their long-awaited return on March 17.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Internal Revenue Service had a March 10 deadline.

The Internal Revenue Service is one of many departments who can no longer offer remote work (Annabelle Gordon for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Who is exempt?

Spouses of military personnel are exempt from the mandate.

Part of a memo published by the White House in February explained that 'return-to-office plans categorically exempt all military spouses authorized to engage in remote work'.

"This includes both military spouses appointed under the Military Spouse Employment Act authorities and those appointed under other hiring authorities," it added.

Others that are exempt include individuals with disabilities; individuals with qualifying medical conditions; and others with 'compelling' reasons.

Military spouses are exempt from the mandate (Getty Stock Image)

The change comes after the Biden administration ruled that hybrid working would continue until 2029 for some employees.

This was locked in by Biden appointee Martin O’Malley, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, who signed a deal to allow 42,000 Social Security Administration workers to continue to work remotely.

This deal was signed in December 2024 and Trump has since filed lawsuits in a bid to invalidate this and other similar deals.

Apparently such contracts 'impede Trump's abilities to purge the federal workforce and protect national security', said Reuters.