Interior, EPA set deadlines for staffers to return to the office

By Scott Streater, Kevin Bogardus | 01/27/2025 01:39 PM EST

Employees should expect to be back in offices full time by Feb. 24, according to memos sent Friday.

EPA and Interior headquarters.

(From left) EPA and Interior Department headquarters. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Interior Department and EPA employees must return to the office full time next month as federal agencies work to implement a presidential order designed to curb telework and remote work.

In an internal memorandum sent late Friday to Interior’s roughly 70,000 employees, acting Interior Secretary Walter Cruickshank wrote that all “telework” employees working from home must be back in the office no later than Feb. 23.

Cruickshank’s memo also directs all remote staff “who reside within a 50-mile radius of their originating Interior duty station” to also “return to work in-person” on a full-time basis by that deadline.

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In a separate internal memo, acting EPA Administrator James Payne told agency staff that all regular telework and remote work agreements will be rescinded to align with President Donald Trump’s order and Office of Personnel Management guidance, while excusing those with a disability, a medical condition or “other compelling reason” certified by the agency head and their boss.

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