President Donald Trump ordered federal employees to return to in-office work, but a former adviser warned people could be "sitting on top of each other" since there isn't enough office space to accommodate everyone.
The White House's Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to federal employees on January 22, informing them they have 30 days to comply. However, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is concurrently terminating office leases and combining agencies.
"There are some specific offices where they literally don't have enough square feet per person. They'll be sitting on top of each other," Jack Fingert, a senior adviser during the Obama administration, told the Washington Post.
Some federal employees told WaPo they believe the mandate is a roundabout way of forcing people to quit, a sentiment Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was initially tapped to co-lead DOGE, stated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in November 2024.
"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome," they wrote.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement worker also shared that the agency's acting director dictated that all supervisory employees had to return to the office by February 3 and everyone else by February 10, "unless excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason."
"I think 'other compelling reason' might include the fact that we have no space," the ICE employee told WaPo.
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