U.S. immigration agency tightens remote work rules for disabled staff
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is initiating a comprehensive review of all telework and remote work accommodations following a “dramatic surge” in requests after U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded work-from-home flexibility for federal employees in January 2025.
The agency has mandated that existing accommodations be placed on interim status pending review and that pending requests be resubmitted, marking a significant shift in how the agency handles disability-related work arrangements.
ICE cites ‘surge’ in accommodation requests after Trump order
Government Executive reports that this policy change, signed by Todd Lyons, the Senior Officer leading the agency in the capacity of the ICE director, describes work from home as an option of last resort.
This internal directive follows President Trump’s broader mandate to eliminate telework for federal personnel at the start of his second term. However, that presidential order explicitly exempted civil servants who work remotely due to a reasonable accommodation.
According to the immigration enforcement agency, the general telework policy was reversed, leading to a significant increase in employees seeking reasonable accommodations to continue working remotely. Thus, ICE is now reviewing all available accommodations to comply with the new, stricter guidance.
This is creating anxiety among employees. According to Michael Fallings, a Managing Partner at Tully Rinckey, which specializes in federal employment law, “This really puts fear in those employees’ minds of ‘Am I going to still be able to work for this agency? Because I need an accommodation to do so.’”
Centralized board to review disability accommodation claims
Under the new protocol, ICE has established a stringent review process that places all current telework and remote work reasonable accommodations into an interim status, with reviews expected to be completed within 10 business days, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The agency is also pushing employees with outstanding accommodation requests to restart the process and submit a new application for assessment under the new rules.
“That is something that really stands out because that can obviously cause people concern, having to reinitiate things that were already pending for, perhaps, months,” said Fallings.
To consolidate supervision, ICE is establishing a special board, whose members will be nominated by the assistant director of the Office of Civil Rights Compliance and will meet every two weeks to serve as the ultimate adjudicator for all reasonable accommodation requests.
The shift in this structure eliminates direct supervisors’ decision-making power and places it on a centralized compliance board, which may lengthen an already complicated process.
Federal shift on telework and impact on disability rights
ICE’s aggressive approach to reviewing disability accommodations is part of a broader trend across federal agencies, a sign that the balance between in-person mandates and accessibility requirements may shift in the government.
An example is the Veterans Affairs Department, which now requires senior executives in the Senior Executive Service to sign off on an RA request for accommodations lasting more than 8 weeks. In the same manner, the Health and Human Services Department expanded the approval authority for all telework requests from supervisors to assistant secretaries.
Conversely, the House of Lords in London supports hybrid work as a strategic option to break the barriers to commuting to the workplace among disabled people and carers, capitalizing on a model that is already being implemented by 28% of the United Kingdom workforce, but cautions that unless immediate investment is made in digital infrastructure and management training, the policy will only entrench a workforce that is two tiers.
Restricting norms of reasonable accommodation can become a precedent that would lead to a less accommodating workplace atmosphere for people with disabilities in the global community and probably make employers reconsider what should be deemed as undue hardship.
