TSA agents are pushing back after the agency stripped chairs from airport checkpoints nationwide.
The removal order, issued by the Transportation Security Administration, bars officers from sitting while checking traveler IDs at podiums across all U.S. Airports. A TSA spokesperson defended the move in a statement, saying officers “performing the travel document checker role are the first to interact with the traveling public.” The spokesperson continued: “This welcome change reinforces both our security posture and our commitment to hospitality by having these officers on their feet and alert. All officers must meet fitness for duty requirements to be capable of performing their vital national security function while simultaneously creating a welcoming and professional environment for travelers.”
The American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100, which represents TSA officers, fired back that it learned of the decision only through its members and called it a “disregard for workers rights and safety.” The union is now urging the public to sign a letter demanding the chairs be returned.
The union added its own defense of seated screening: “Our officers screen millions of people a day and they do it right sitting or standing.”
The chair ban arrives amid broader Trump administration efforts to reshape federal workforce standards. In March 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum titled “Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce,” giving the Director of the Office of Personnel Management expanded authority over employee fitness determinations. The administration has also targeted the TSA directly with proposed cuts, including the elimination of more than 9,000 jobs and roughly $1.5 billion from the agency’s budget in April.
Social media has amplified officers’ complaints. A former TSA worker wrote online: “I worked for TSA. You need chairs at checkpoints. Agents have long and stressful days and they need to rest their feet.” Another user posted: “Unless they can prove the chairs negatively impact their performance I don’t see a reason for taking them away.” A third simply exclaimed: “Give them back their chairs!”
Health experts have also entered the debate. Dr. Turner Osler, an emeritus professor at the University of Vermont, said: “It’s shocking that the TSA would impose this health risk upon their employees,” He continued: “Because sitting is known to be a health risk, many people reasonably assume standing is the healthy alternative to sitting. But the evidence says otherwise.” Osler pointed to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology tracking 7,320 Ontario workers for roughly 12 years. “People whose jobs were mostly standing had roughly twice the risk of developing heart disease compared with people whose jobs were mostly sitting,” he said. “That gap held up after the researchers adjusted for age, education, health, shift work and how physically demanding the job was. Standing isn’t the opposite of sitting. Movement is.”
The dispute centers on a policy shift with no announced trial period or employee consultation, with officers now left to stand through shifts that involve processing millions of travelers daily.