Federal employees are now permitted to work from home or modify their hours to honor religious fasts and prayers. The Office of Personnel Management urged agencies to adopt a flexible approach during religious holidays. Employees seeking breaks while fasting can also request to work from home. If agencies deny these requests for remote work based on religious reasons, they must provide justification showing significant operational impact. This marks a shift from previous policies demanding full-time office attendance for federal workers.
The Office of Personnel Management called on agencies to 'adopt a generous approach' to allowing employees to work remotely before and during religious holidays, agency director Scott Kupor said.
Employees who want to take breaks during the workday while they are fasting should also get permission to work from home, he said.
Agencies that opt to deny an employee's request to work remotely for religious reasons must justify it with 'evidence of significant operational impact,' he said.
More than 1 million federal employees—almost half of the federal civilian workforce—were eligible to work remotely at least part of the time as of May 2024, according to a Biden administration report.
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