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 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. Shulman conducted a hearing with the agency in absentia, noting that the dispute arose before the contract termination and that telework arrangements address where work is performed, not management rights. He rejected the Office of Personnel Management's claim that telework provisions are unenforceable, calling it an overstatement of law. The ruling is the latest in a series of arbitration decisions restoring telework for federal employees amid ongoing legal challenges to the anti-union executive orders.
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