Dear CASE Member:
This is a follow up to CASE’s email of March 20, 2025, in which CASE requested that members make a request to their supervisor to telework up to five (5) days per week. Thank you to everyone who has made the request for additional telework and let CASE know that you have made that request, and any answer received.
If you have not done so already, we encourage every member to make a request for telework up to five (5) days per week and to do so by April 15, 2025.
- As a reminder, here is a draft email for your use and to tailor to your specific needs and situation. If your department has another process to request telework, please follow that process.
Supervisor,
My current telework agreement to telework for XX days per week is approved through XX. Please advise if the department will be honoring my current telework agreement.
At this time, pursuant to section 6.4 of the CASE MOU, I am requesting to telework up to 5 days per week, notwithstanding Executive Order N-22-25. That executive order expressly requires departments to “consider employee requests for more than one telework day per week on a case-by-case basis.” I understand that my job duties may require me to go into the office and I will of course do so whenever necessary. However, the last 5 years since the COVID pandemic have demonstrated that I can perform the vast majority of my work remotely and can do so efficiently. Please advise if this request is granted. If not, please provide the operational needs for denying my request for telework up to five days per week.
As CASE has previously reported, in some of the prior telework arbitrations, the arbitrator has ruled that the MOU requires employees to make individual telework requests. Other arbitrators have determined that CASE can make telework requests on behalf of its members. CASE is continuing to litigate this issue, and does not believe the MOU requires individual requests, but moving forward, we recommend each employee make an individual telework request in order to prevent the State from making this procedural argument in future arbitrations.
Please forward your request and your supervisor’s response to your request (if one) to CASE at info@calattorneys.org.
- Once you have received a denial of your request or if you do not receive a response in a timely manner, begin the grievance process by requesting an informal grievance discussion with your supervisor per section 7.6 of the MOU. We encourage you to have this conversation via email rather than verbally, so that it can be documented. A sample email for use in the informal discussion is as follows (please tailor to your specific circumstances as appropriate):
Supervisor:
On [DATE] my request for telework up to five days per week was denied. Pursuant to Section 7.6 of the CASE MOU, I am hereby initiating an informal discussion regarding that denial. I urge you to reconsider that denial in light of my high-quality work performance over the last XX years during which I have been working remotely for the majority of the time. In addition, as you know, my commute to the office (one way) is XX miles, which creates a hardship for me both in terms of time spent commuting, and the financial costs associated with commuting, parking, etc. In addition, based on the ability to telework over the last XX years, I have moved my place of residence/changed my child’s school/reduced our family down to one vehicle/begun caring for my elderly parents. Forcing me to come into the office four days per week will be a major hardship. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
- If the grievance is denied at the informal discussion level, or if you do not receive a response from your supervisor to your request for an informal grievance discussion, you may submit a grievance at the first level to your supervisor. The grievance packet should contain:
1. the completed grievance form,
3. the email exchanges between you and your supervisor requesting additional telework,
4. your supervisor’s response (if any),
5. the request for the informal grievance discussion; and
6. the response to the informal grievance discussion (if any.)
Please forward a copy of the grievance packet to CASE at info@calattorneys.org. Do not send CASE anything that your department may consider confidential and/or attorney-client privileged.
Also, please keep track of the grievance timelines found in Article 7 of the Unit 2 MOU. The MOU may be found athttps://calattorneys.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BU-2-MOU-Final-2022-2025-11-09-2022.pdf. Due to the large number of grievances CASE expects to be filed, it is imperative that members keep track of the timelines for their individual grievance.
As always, your support of CASE and your colleagues in Bargaining Unit 2 is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
The CASE Board of Directors