By MAYA C. MILLER
Tens of thousands of California state employees were bracing to return to the office on July 1 after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared there was an “operational necessity” for all California state employees to work in person a minimum of four days per week.
That changed just before the deadline when CalHR, which represents the governor in collective bargaining, negotiated a set of deals with public employee unions that delayed the mandate for a year. Relieved workers welcomed the news.
Yet labor leaders – and even some in-office evangelists – said the governor’s willingness to suddenly drop his demand proved the order was a clever political move and undermined his insistence that in-person work is superior, necessary for productivity and builds public trust.
“Many of our members feel the sudden shift toward rigid (return to office) policies had more to do with politics and pressure than performance,” wrote Anica Walls, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, in an email. The union, the largest in California state government, represents almost 96,000 state employees. “This pause is a direct result of our members fighting back.”
Walls declined multiple requests for an interview and insisted that CalMatters send questions in writing.
Many state workers had been on edge since March when Newsom penned the executive orderthat would have required an estimated 108,000 employees who still worked a hybrid schedule to return to the office nearly full time. The new order doubled the number of required in-office days from two to four, building on Newsom’s first crackdown on work-from-home in April 2023.
Several state employee unions filed grievances, and two groups sued Newsom and CalHR, the state’s human resources agency, alleging that the administration’s order wrongfully sidestepped the collective bargaining process by unilaterally changing working conditions.
Aggrieved state employees also fundraised more than $30,000 to erect billboards around Sacramento that accused Newsom of creating traffic jams. Many workers argued the state had downsized some locations so there would not even be enough room for them to work in person.
Lawmakers, whom the public employee unions view as allies, questioned whether the state was ready to suddenly bring so many workers back to the office. They didn’t get clear answers.
‘You don’t have numbers for us’
During budget hearings in April and May, members of the Assembly subcommittee that oversees government administration grilled officials from CalHR and the Department of Government Services about how much it would cost to have tens of thousands of workers come in four days a week instead of two.
The lawmakers didn’t hide their exasperation when administration officials admitted they did not even have a rough estimate.
“I’m still really astonished that you don’t have numbers for us,” said Assemblymember Liz Ortega, a Democrat who represents Hayward, during a May 22 committee hearing.
“This is pretty bewildering,” echoed Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco.
But Newsom maintained that the benefits of in-person work, such as increased collaboration, communication and mentorship for newer employees, were undermined by the two-day in-office policy since teams weren’t required to come in on the same days. Four days in office would mitigate that issue.
The tension escalated in May after Newsom announced the state faced a $12 billion budget problem and suggested delaying state worker pay raises for a year, as well as pausing contributions to their retiree health care funds, to cut costs.
Ultimately, CalHR reached new labor agreements with three unions, including the state’s largest, to delay the in-office order until July 2026. Those new deals also included some of the cost savings the governor wanted.
SEIU Local 1000 recently agreed to offset a 3% pay raise this year with five extra hours of “unpaid” leave time each month. The agreement, which affects about a third of the union’s 96,000 represented workers, could ultimately cost the state more since an employee’s accrued hours gain value as their pay rises over time. Many state workers wait to cash out unused leave when they retire, typically at their highest pay rate.
