Last Updated: August 2, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

A federal judge has said out loud what disability law has required all along: a blanket return-to-office order does not erase your right to a telework accommodation. On July 10, the court in Panian v. Blanche ordered DOJ to restore full-time telework for two attorneys, one managing Type 1 diabetes, one fighting Stage IV lung cancer, whose approved accommodations were cancelled under the 2025 RTO mandates.

What Happened in the DOJ Case

The two plaintiffs are attorneys at the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Both had approved full-time telework accommodations tied to their medical conditions. When the 2025 return-to-office orders swept through DOJ, the agency rescinded those accommodations under the general policy rather than re-evaluating either person's medical situation.

They sued, and on July 10 the court granted a preliminary injunction under the four-factor Winter test. The court found they were likely to succeed on the merits because a categorical no-telework policy cannot displace the Rehabilitation Act's individualized analysis, and that forcing employees with serious medical conditions back on-site while the case proceeds risked irreparable harm to their health. DOJ has not obtained a stay, so the two attorneys are teleworking again while the case moves forward.

Two things the ruling is not: it is not a government-wide injunction, and it is not a certified class action yet. The case was filed on behalf of a proposed class of similarly situated EOIR employees, but no certification decision has been issued as of publication.

The Law That Was Always There

The ruling didn't invent a right. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, implemented at 29 CFR 1614.203, has required this framework for decades:

  • Individualized assessment. Every accommodation request gets evaluated on its own facts: your condition, your job's essential functions, and whether the requested accommodation lets you perform them.
  • The interactive process. The agency must engage with you in good faith about what would work. Silence, delay, or "policy says no" is not an interactive process.
  • Undue hardship is specific, not general. An agency can deny an accommodation that imposes significant difficulty or expense, but it must show that for your request, not gesture at a mandate.

That is exactly why blanket revocations are legally exposed. An agency that cancelled hundreds of approved telework accommodations in one memo, by definition, did not assess anyone individually.

If Your Accommodation Was Revoked: Five Steps

1. Document everything now. Save the original accommodation approval, the revocation notice, every email about it, and your medical documentation. Dates matter more than anything else in this process.

2. Respond in writing within days. Send a short, factual message to your supervisor and the agency's reasonable accommodation coordinator: you have an approved accommodation for a documented disability, you are requesting that it be honored, and you are asking the agency to engage in the interactive process before any change takes effect.

3. File a formal reinstatement request. If the revocation stands, submit a new reasonable accommodation request through your agency's formal process, citing your existing medical documentation and the essential functions you perform successfully under the accommodation.

4. Contact your EEO counselor inside 45 days. This is the step people miss. Under 29 CFR 1614.105, you have 45 calendar days from the discriminatory act, here, the revocation, to initiate EEO counseling. Blowing this deadline can close the EEO route entirely. If your revocation is already older than 45 days, ask a counselor or attorney whether a continuing violation or a new triggering event, like a denied reinstatement request, restarts the clock.

5. Choose your route deliberately. Depending on your situation, the paths are the EEO complaint process, a negotiated grievance if your contract covers it, or, where an appealable action is involved, the MSPB. Election-of-forum rules mean the first formal filing usually locks your lane, which is exactly the moment to get advice, not after.

Our reasonable accommodation delay guide covers what to do when an agency simply sits on a request, and the telework arbitration tracker follows the union-side rulings agency by agency.

The Bigger Fight Over RTO and Accommodations

Panian is one front. NTEU's case against the IRS, Treasury, and HHS alleges the accommodation pipeline itself has been left to rot: more than 6,500 stalled requests at Treasury and more than 9,000 at HHS, employees waiting months with no decision at all. That case, filed June 29 in D.D.C., is early, with no injunction yet.

Together the two cases mark the legal boundary of the RTO era: agencies can order people back to offices, but they cannot skip disability law to do it. For employees, the practical lesson from both dockets is the same one. The rights are real, but they are not self-executing. The 45-day clock, the written record, and the formal request are what turn them into outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the court actually rule in the DOJ telework case?

On July 10, 2026, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles (E.D. Va.) granted a preliminary injunction in Panian v. Blanche (No. 1

) ordering DOJ to restore full-time telework for two EOIR attorneys with disabilities while their lawsuit proceeds. The court found a blanket no-telework policy cannot replace the individualized accommodation assessment the Rehabilitation Act requires.

Does the ruling apply to my agency?

The injunction binds only DOJ in that case. But the legal principle it applied, that agencies must individually assess each accommodation request rather than deny by category, is standing Rehabilitation Act law that already applies to every federal agency. The ruling is persuasive authority other courts can follow.

My telework accommodation was revoked under an RTO order. What is my deadline?

You generally have 45 calendar days from the revocation to contact your agency EEO counselor under 29 CFR 1614.105. Missing that window can forfeit the EEO route. If your revocation happened months ago, talk to an EEO counselor or attorney immediately about whether an exception or a new triggering event applies.

Can my agency deny telework accommodations because of a government-wide RTO policy?

Not lawfully as a blanket matter. The Rehabilitation Act requires an individualized assessment and an interactive process for each request. An agency can deny a specific request for undue hardship, but it has to show that for your specific situation, not point to a policy.

What is the NTEU lawsuit about stalled accommodation requests?

NTEU sued the IRS, Treasury, and HHS in D.D.C. on June 29, 2026 (No. 1

), alleging more than 15,000 accommodation requests have been left stalled, including 6,500-plus at Treasury and 9,000-plus at HHS. The case is in its early stages with no injunction yet.

Was a class action certified in the DOJ case?

Not as of publication. The case was filed as a putative class action for similarly situated EOIR employees with disabilities, but no certification order has been issued. The preliminary injunction covers the two named plaintiffs.

Sources: Federal News Network, July 2026 · Bloomberg Law, July 13, 2026 · Democracy Forward press release · 29 CFR 1614.203 · 29 CFR 1614.105