CDC temporarily revokes remote work approvals for employees with disabilities

Disability rights advocate says the agency’s decision ‘raises serious legal concerns’

By O. Rose BroderickSept. 16, 2025
Disability in Health Care Reporting Fellow

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revoked permission for employees with disabilities to work from home, at least temporarily, and paused approving reasonable accommodations for new applicants seeking to work from home, according to a Sept. 15 email obtained by STAT.

The agency’s decision stems from the Trump administration’s January directive to mostly end remote work for federal employees and is tied to an August update to a broader Health and Human Services telework policy, which the CDC email said did not include long-term telework as an option for federal employees with disabilities.

The email says CDC is awaiting clarification from HHS, but meanwhile, “all approvals for long-term telework, to include reasonable accommodation (RA) long-term telework are paused until further notice.” Employees may still submit requests for reasonable accommodation and are “encouraged to reach out to their supervisor or manager for assistance with an interim solution,” according to the email from an official in the CDC’s Office of Human Resources.

It’s unclear how many CDC employees work remotely full time, though Yolanda Jacobs, president of AFGE Local 2883, one of the unions representing CDC workers, said that dozens of employees were affected by the withdrawal of approval for remote work

https://www.statnews.com/2025/09/16/cdc-temporarily-revokes-remote-work-approvals-disabilitiies/