Detailed Return-to-Office Implementation Guidance: Potentially Major Disruption for USPTO Operations

Patent

Dennis Crouch

In a significant development likely affecting USPTO operations, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued detailed implementation guidance for President Trump’s January 20, 2025 return-to-office mandate. The guidance provides strict timelines and requirements that could force dramatic changes at the USPTO, where remote work has been a cornerstone of operations for decades.

The OPM memo, signed by Acting Director Charles Ezell, requires agencies to take immediate action, with initial steps due by January 24, 2025 (tomorrow).

These requirements include:

  1. Revising agency telework policies to require full-time in-person work at duty stations, with limited exceptions for disabilities and other “compelling reasons”
  2. Notifying all employees of the change and intention to comply
  3. Designating a Telework Managing Officer responsible for implementation

The memo’s tone and timeline indicate that this is not merely a suggestion. OPM’s statutory authority under the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, 5 U.S.C. § 6504, provides the legal basis for this directive. This same statute originally enabled the expansion of telework programs, but is now being wielded to curtail them.

For the USPTO, compliance presents unprecedented challenges. The Office operates what may be the federal government’s most extensive telework program, with thousands of patent examiners working remotely across the country. Many were hired with explicit promises of permanent remote work arrangements. The USPTO has reduced its physical footprint in Alexandria, recently consolidating from five buildings to three, although it has also expanded with several regional offices that could house additional examiners.

The OPM guidance allows for agency-head exemptions, but these appear intended as limited carve-outs rather than wholesale exclusions. For employees whose duty stations are more than 50 miles from any agency office, the memo instructs agencies to “take steps to move the employee’s duty station to the most appropriate agency office.” This could affect hundreds or thousands of USPTO examiners who would need to relocate to Alexandria, Detroit, Denver, Dallas, or San Jose (or perhaps Atlanta).

The memo cites congressional findings that “virtually unrestricted telework has led to poorer government services and made it more difficult to supervise and train government workers.”  Although the USPTO has provided contrary evidence, use of that evidence may be akin to speaking to a wall.

Adding complexity is the USPTO’s recent collective bargaining agreement with the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA). See 5 U.S.C. § 7116 (defining unfair labor practices). The OPM guidance acknowledges that implementation must account for “collective bargaining obligations,” but also seems to take aim at union agreements, noting that “federal unions attempted to abuse the collective-bargaining process to guarantee full-time telework into the indefinite future.”

The USPTO faces difficult choices ahead. Mass relocations could trigger significant attrition among experienced examiners. And, this comes as the Office already faces growing patent examination backlogs and increasing pendency times.

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