Ruling permits appeals on telework
Union state workers can do so if required at office more than once a week
HARTFORD — Thousands of unionized state employees can now appeal being required to work in the office more than one day a week under a ruling by a state arbitrator.
The ruling comes after initial clashes with Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration over a policy that has become more important for workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, state employees routinely worked in office buildings in Hartford and other nearby communities, but that changed quickly when the pandemic began spreading in March 2020.
Lamont and the unions had reached an earlier agreement that was announced in early August, but that was only temporary as the two sides looked toward a permanent policy.
The detailed, 37-page arbitration award essentially says that “any denial or modification of a telework application that would result in a member being required to be at the work site more than one day per week is appealable,’’ the union coalition said.
State employees can request work-at-home schedules that they believe are “consistent with job duties and operational needs,’’ says the ruling by arbitrator Michael R. Ricci. “All such requests shall be reviewed and granted, denied, or modification suggested in accordance with the procedures and standards of this policy, except that the determination of an agency to refuse to grant telework above an amount that would provide one day per workweek at the worksite shall not be subject to arbitration under this policy.”
The arbitrator accepted the union’s last, best offer on the issue.
State employees handle a wide range of jobs, and many of them — such as state troopers on highways, correction officers in the prisons, child-protection social workers visiting families, and transportation department drivers clearing the snow — cannot do their work at home.
Teleworking increased sharply in March 2020 when the state Capitol was closed and Lamont told executive branch employees that they should work at home if they could.
Lamont started negotiating with the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, known as SEBAC, as initial the shutdown restrictions around the state were eased. Under his emergency powers at the time, Lamont had sweeping authority. Many of those restrictions, however, have since been removed, and Lamont is currently operating with reduced emergency powers that are scheduled to expire on Feb. 15.
The Lamont administration and union officials have been trying to get along as they seek long-term labor peace, and they have avoided overheated rhetoric that was often more common in the past. Administration officials did not immediately respond for comment Monday.