Arbitrator Orders IRS to Restore 2024 Telework Agreements, Rules Agency Unlawfully Repudiated Union Contract
Independent arbitrator Christopher Shulman ordered the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to restore telework and remote work agreements to their 2024-era status, ruling that the agency unlawfully repudiated its collective bargaining agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The IRS had unilaterally canceled telework agreements in March 2025, despite a contract requiring case-by-case review. The agency later withdrew from grievance proceedings, citing President Trump's 2025 executive orders banning unions at federal agencies for national security reasons. Shulman conducted a hearing with the IRS in absentia, noting that the contract termination occurred after the telework cancellations, so obligations under the contract survived. He rejected the agency's argument that telework is a management right, stating it only concerns where work is performed, not what or how. The ruling requires the IRS to make whole employees who suffered financial losses.
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