Guidance on Exempting Military Spouses & Foreign Service Spouses from Agency RTO Plans

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum modifying its return to office (RTO) policy to clarify that certain military spouses in "remote" positions universally had a "compelling reason" to remain remote and therefore were categorically exempt from the RTO policy. Thus, OPM instructed agencies to allow these military spouses to continue working fully remotely. Covered spouses generally include spouses of active-duty, spouses of deceased active duty service members, or spouses of military personnel or Foreign Service officers stationed overseas to support an intelligence function. Subsequent guidance from OPM issued in December 2025 further clarified that this exception to the RTO policy applies only to spouses approved for "remote" work, which is distinct from spouses approved for telework. Fully "remote" employees for these purposes differ from those with telework arrangements, in that fully remote employees generally do not have a home duty station. Spouses approved for telework are not categorically exempted from the RTO policy, though some may be individually accommodated. A federal law, 5 U.S.C. § 3330d, permits the government to hire certain covered military spouses into fully "remote" positions, and there is an argument that this statute forbids the government from converting their positions into in-person/non-remote positions. However, OPM did not specifically rely on this interpretation of the statute in promulgating this policy.