Union Thwarts A CA Executive Order That Would Have Affected Thousands On July 1

California state employees who were ordered to return to the office this week will now have another year of flexible hybrid or remote work, thanks to a union agreement reached with the state.

California's largest workers' union, SEIU Local 1,000, was able to reach an agreement with the state just days before Gov. Gavin Newsom's order forcing state employees back into the office would take effect July 1.

The governor issued an executive order in March, directing all state employees to return to the office at least four days a week. The move drew swift criticism from SEIU Local 1000, which represents approximately 96,000 state employees in California.

The California Department of Human Resources confirmed the agreement with the union on Sunday. Newsom's requirement to return to the office will be delayed until July 1, 2026.

Departments must return to the telework agreements that were in place before March 2 and departments are blocked from making any new return-to-office policy changes for the next 90 days, the union said in a blog post for its members.

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"This is an important step in our continued fight for telework," the union wrote.

SEIU Local 1000 represents employees in bargaining units 1, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20 and 21. The unit represents a wide range of state employees from analysts, IT workers, educators, nurses, support staff, custodians and more.

The union has called Newsom's order to send workers back to in office work "unnecessary" and "a step backward."

According to a 2024 productivity report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2019 to 2022, industries with more remote workers saw higher productivity growth, even after considering pre-pandemic productivity trends.

This was largely due to lower unit costs, especially nonlabor costs, in industries that adopted more remote work, according to the report.

Timothy O'Connor, president of CASE, the union representing state attorneys, told CalMatters that Newsom was overlooking the effectiveness and cost-saving benefits of remote work.

“We think this is just sudden, comes out of nowhere, and it’s a misguided mandate that really ignores the benefits of telework,” O’Connor told CalMatters. “This is a very harsh order.”

Newsom's order notes that a growing number of public sectors and private employers have called employees back to in-person work.

"State employees kept this state running through the pandemic, proving that remote and hybrid work increase productivity, improve work-life balance, and make state jobs more competitive – all while saving taxpayer dollars," the union wrote in a statement.

California employs more than 224,000 full-time state workers, tens of thousands of which were ordered to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.