Politics

A third-party arbitrator is ordering the Department of Housing and Urban Development to restore telework agreements for thousands of federal employees, after finding HUD breached its union contract when it implemented the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate last year.

In a decision issued Wednesday, third-party arbitrator Michael T. Loconto determined that the agency’s actions amounted to a prohibited personnel practice, violating both its collective bargaining agreement and federal statute. The decision gives HUD until Monday — the start of the next pay period — to reestablish all regular and routine telework agreements that existed as of January 2025. The decision covers roughly 7,000 HUD employees represented by American Federation of Government Employees Council 222.