LINCOLN — The state employees union is renewing demands that the state bargain around remote work as the governor calls for state employees to return to in-person offices by Jan. 2.

The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, on Thursday shared the results of a survey of union members conducted in the last week. More than 100 state employees also rallied at the Nebraska State Capitol during the noon lunch hour.

The union initially called for a demand to negotiate Nov. 27 as employees have contemplated leaving state employment as a result of the governor’s executive order.

“If we lose state employees, all Nebraskans will pay the price,” said Melissa Haynes, president of the union and a lead social services worker in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Jacy Schafer, deputy director of communications for Gov. Jim Pillen, said many of Nebraska’s workers have no choice but to come into work each day, including state troopers, corrections officers and highway workers, and they did so throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, too.

Office-based staff, she added, should be held to the same standard.

“Nebraskans expect their taxpayer-funded workforce to deliver maximum value and productivity, and that is only possible by ensuring our state public servants are, as a general rule, working full-time schedules in the office,” Schafer said in a statement to the Nebraska Examiner. “The Governor’s authority to direct the state’s workforce fully back into the office is clear.”

The union is requesting an updated response based on the renewed call for bargaining by Tuesday and will exercise its legal options with the state labor board or, eventually, Lancaster County District Court, if the state refuses, officials said.

More than 1,700 employees responded to the union’s survey. Nearly 1,400 (16% of the total state workforce) indicated they are considering non-state jobs because of the executive order:

797 employees said they were considering looking for a new employer.

593 more employees said they are actively looking or have already applied for new employment.

Of the respondents, the union added, 1,404 work remotely in some capacity (186 did so prior to March 2020), and 66.8% have been in state service since at least 2020.

“We cannot afford to lose one in six of our workers,” Justin Hubly, executive director of the union, said. “We couldn’t even lose half that many.”

The union states that Pillen’s executive order could lead to direct losses of at least 10% of the workforce in Child & Family Services, 33% of employees providing services to Nebraskans with disabilities, 25% of social services workers, 20% of engineers and scientists and 16% of employees helping Nebraskans find gainful employment.

Hubly said the union remains confident the governor will agree to negotiate and work out contract language to meet everyone’s needs.

“Most importantly, we’ll be able to retain our current employees and we’ll be able to recruit a new generation of public servants to serve our neighbors,” Hubly said.

Pillen signed the Nov. 13 executive order ordering an end to remote work for state employees and stating they had to return to their offices full time by Jan. 2. In his order, Pillen stated the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a great increase in remote work, is over.

The governor also dictated that the regular work hours of all employed public servants shall be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The order allows certain exceptions, such as if offices don’t have sufficient space.

However, Hubly said, this could lead to inconsistencies among the union’s 8,000 employees across 360 work sites in all of Nebraska’s 93 counties.

Dan Birdsall, employee relations administrator and the state’s chief negotiator, has said there is no need to bargain because Pillen’s order simply assigns worksites and schedules, according to the union.

Hubly, in a Wednesday email to Birdsall renewing bargain demands, disagreed, describing the order as requiring “wholesale changes to the status quo” without negotiations.

Those negotiations are required, Hubly added, under Article 1.4 of the labor contract, the State Employees Collective Bargaining Act and the Industrial Relations Act.

“We are aware of hundreds of employees who were hired with a promise and advertisement of remote work opportunities, and who have never been assigned to a state office,” Hubly wrote, referring to a state webpage that advertises flexible work schedules.

Haynes said many workers, in both public and private sectors, have found remote work to be beneficial and to improve workplace efficiency. She said a “one-size-fits-all approach does not work.”

Rachel Kreifels, a developmental disabilities program specialist for DHHS in Lincoln, said she has worked in the state for more than 12 years, most of the time in developmental disabilities. After the state reduced physical office space, many DHHS employees, including Kreifels, transitioned to a fully remote work assignment.

Kreifels said she and her colleagues work more efficiently on short tasks at home before heading into the field, rather than heading first into the office. While she’ll stay in the state, she worries that many others may leave.

“If we lose those employees, our clients will suffer because the rest of us will have even larger caseloads, and we will lose the efficiency we have retained,” Kreifels said.

The union said there is “good news”: 1,210 of the employees who said they’re considering leaving (87%) said they would stay if the executive order is rescinded.

“That’s why bargaining over this issue is so important,” Hubly said in a statement. “We are confident that through negotiations we can work out contract language that is beneficial to all, especially our fellow Nebraskans.”

Hubly said the following items must be bargained, though the list, he said, is not exhaustive:

• The definition of remote work and remote location.
• The assignment procedures, criteria and expenses if an in-office arrangement is not possible.
• The assignment procedures, criteria and expenses if an office is at full capacity.
• The definition, criteria and duration for exceptions to sustain critical operations.
• The definition and requirements to declare a workforce shortfall to allow remote work.
• Remote work options in lieu of using leave during severe weather or other emergencies.
• The criteria for an agency head to make exceptions on an individual basis.
• The procedures for measuring and confirming productivity in remote assignments.
• Parking availability and assignments.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.