Military & foreign service spouses exempt from federal return-to-work order

Federal employees married to active-duty service members and U.S. Foreign Service members working overseas are exempt from President Trump’s return to work order, according to guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Personal Management (OPM) on Wednesday.

That OPM memo also made clarified that federal employers can continue to offer remote jobs to military spouse in those categories.

“Agencies should accordingly ensure that their return-to-office plans categorically exempt all military spouses authorized to engage in remote work,” the memo to agency and department heads stated.

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Military spouses covered by this guidance include spouses of members performing full-time National Guard duties, the memo states. It includes spouses of disabled members of the Armed Forces, which the memo defines as service members who had a 100% disability rating on the date of retirement, release, or discharge from the Armed Forces.

According to the memo, this guidance also applies to the spouses of deceased service members if the spouse was married on the date of the service member’s death and has not remarried and that service member was active duty.

Further, the guidance states that federal employees who are spouses of U.S. Foreign Service members who are on overseas assignments are also exempt from return-to-office requirements.

Not only are the aforementioned categories of federal workers exempt from return-to-work orders, but the memo states their federal employers must “ensure” they are permitted to continue with any applicable remote work arrangements.