State employees will return to required in-person work this week, after a superior court judge declined to halt Gov. Phil Scott’s return-to-office order.
The Vermont State Employees' Association, the union representing state workers, had asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction while it pursues an unfair labor practice complaint with the state labor relations board.
Superior Court Judge Dan Richardson, in a ruling on Saturday, wrote that the court didn’t have the authority to intervene. The dispute over the new return-to-office order is being reviewed by the Vermont Labor Relations Board, Richardson said.
“These are issues that the VLRB must address, and their absence from the present action means that any adjudication, even on a temporary basis, invades their purview,” Richardson said in his order.
Scott issued a mandate this fall that required all state employees to return to in-person work at least three days a week, beginning on Dec. 1. The governor has said he thinks the change will help foster collaboration and employee engagement.
Workers can apply for an exemption, and so far 425 people have requested one. The Scott administration has granted 25 of those requests and is reviewing the rest, according to Richardson’s order. The administration said people will not be required to follow the return-to-office mandate if their exemption request is pending.
In its unfair labor practice charge, the VSEA alleged that the administration can’t institute the return-to-office policy without going through a bargaining process with the union.
Scott issued an emergency order in March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, directing all state employees to work from home if their job allowed it. Since then, state employees have continued to do their work, said Steve Howard, VSEA’s executive director.
“They've been leading us through floods, leading us through the pandemic, leading us through all these crises and working really effectively from their dining room table or kitchen table,” Howard said on Monday.
The Scott administration has argued that once the governor’s emergency pandemic order expired, remote work was governed by a 2012 telework policy. In filings with the Vermont Labor Relations Board, the state said Scott’s order to bring state workers back to the office is a change to the existing telework policy and doesn’t require bargaining with the union.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
There will be an initial hearing on the union’s unfair labor practice complaint this Wednesday.
There are about 8,500 people who work for the state and many of them are already working in the office more than three days a week, the state said in its filing with the VLRB. The new mandate affects about 3,000 workers, the state said.
The return–to-office order also meant the state needed to get more office space. According to WCAX, the state is spending $2.3 million for a five-year lease of additional office space in Waterbury.
