SHOW UP Act of 2025 Mandates Federal Return to 2019 Office Levels and Limits Future Remote Work Expansion

The SHOW UP Act of 2025 requires every federal executive agency to hit the rewind button on their workplace policies. Within 30 days of this bill becoming law, agencies must reinstate the exact telework policies, practices, and levels they had on the books as of December 31, 2019. This essentially wipes away the flexible remote work arrangements many federal employees have used over the last few years, forcing a return to a pre-pandemic status quo until a rigorous review process is completed.

Back to the Future (Office Edition)

For federal employees, this means the commute that might have disappeared or shrunk since 2020 is likely coming back in full force. The bill is firm: no agency can expand telework beyond those 2019 levels until they jump through several hoops. First, agencies have to conduct a deep-dive study on how pandemic-era telework actually affected their mission. They have to look at whether customer service slipped, if they were paying for empty office space, and if they were accidentally paying 'locality pay' (extra money for high-cost areas) to people who were actually working from cheaper parts of the country. This isn't just a quick survey; it’s a full audit of how productive and cost-effective remote work really was.

The Long Road to Flexibility

If an agency wants to keep its modern remote work setup, it can't just say 'it works for us.' They have to submit a formal expansion plan to Congress, backed by a certification from the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This certification is the real gatekeeper. The Director has to guarantee that the new plan will have a 'substantial positive effect' on the agency’s mission and 'substantially lower' costs for things like office leases and network security. Because the bill uses broad terms like 'substantial,' it creates a high bar that might be hard to clear, potentially leaving agencies stuck in 2019 for a long time while they wait for official approval.

Real-World Ripple Effects

This shift doesn't just affect federal workers; it hits the communities around them. For a local coffee shop owner near a federal building in D.C. or Denver, this bill could mean a sudden surge in foot traffic as thousands of workers return to their desks. On the flip side, a federal employee who moved to a more affordable rural area during the pandemic might find themselves in a tough spot—either facing a massive commute or potentially seeing their pay adjusted if they are reclassified from a 'teleworker' to a 'remote worker' under the bill’s strict new scrutiny of locality pay. The goal is to ensure taxpayers aren't footing the bill for underused buildings or incorrect pay scales, but the transition could be a bumpy ride for the people doing the work.