A third-party arbitrator is ordering the US Forest Service to restore telework and remote work agreements for close to 20,000 employees represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). In a  decision issued Friday, Arbitrator Robert Simmelkjaer ruled that the Forest Service violated its collective bargaining agreement with NFFE, as well as the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, when the agency issued return-to-office orders in early 2025. Simmelkjaer determined that the Forest Service’s actions breached multiple union contract provisions. That includes one requiring union negotiations over changes in employment conditions, and another defining the parameters for changes to employee telework and remote work arrangements. …In addition, the decision calls for the Forest Service to give employees who left their jobs due to the in-office work orders an opportunity to rejoin the agency. The Forest Service. …The Forest Service now has 30 days to decide if it wants to appeal the arbitrator’s ruling.