As you are likely aware, Governor Newsom issued an order yesterday directing departments to require their employees to return to the office two days per week beginning June 17, 2024, but allowing for case-by-case exceptions.
CASE is extremely disappointed in this directive and has already reached out to CalHR to begin discussions on this matter. We do not yet know if the independently elected constitutional officers will cede their authority to this arbitrary directive. This includes the Department of Justice, the California Department of Insurance, and State Treasurer’s Office as well as State Fund which is a quasi-government entity. Prior to the order yesterday, there were still many departments that employ Bargaining Unit 2 members that did not have a mandatory in-office requirement. CASE will provide updates on this matter when they are forthcoming and in the weekly CASE File emails.
At this time, CASE continues to meet and confer with those departments that have already provided notice to CASE of a return to office requirement and will continue to do so as the notices come in. Grievances are being filed against departments for their in-office requirement and further grievances are expected to be filed. Arbitrations are already underway for the first departments that required Bargaining Unit 2 members to return to the office with several more ready to be scheduled for arbitration. At this time, CASE is awaiting the decision on the CalPERS grievance arbitration and expects the decision to be issued in the near future.
CASE members have proven for more than four years that telework does not harm productivity and increases efficiencies, and CASE will continue to aggressively fight to protect our members’ rights under the MOU.
CASE understands that this return to office order is extremely upsetting to many of our members, especially those with life situations such as childcare, personal and/or family health issues, and the stress associated with the cost of commuting to your office and paying for parking. We would therefore like to remind CASE members that they may utilize the services of CASE’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Information about CASE’s EAP can be found on the CASE website (pw: membersmatter22) You may also contact the State’s EAP. Information for the State EAP may be found here. (State Fund members, please check State Fund’s intranet site for EAP information.)
Due to the number of inquiries that CASE anticipates on this matter, should you have an individual issue outside of the return to office directive that you need to discuss with CASE staff, please send an email to info@calattorneys.org. Please include information on the situation (i.e. investigatory interview, adverse action, negative performance appraisal) so that staff can best triage the incoming emails with the most important issues given immediate attention.
Also, you can always access this form to share with us the impact of return-to-office mandates. Your information helps us build the case for maximum telework flexibility.
As always, your support of CASE and your fellow members is greatly appreciated.