State Workers Fight Newsom’s Return-to-Office Mandate

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate for state workers to return to the office four days a week is back on, and many public employees are fighting to stop it with little time to spare.

Dozens of them showed up at a Senate hearing Wednesday to support a bill that would strengthen telework standards for state agencies and — they hope — result in more flexibility than Newsom would allow.

The Senate’s committee on labor, public employment and retirement advanced the proposal in a 4-1 vote. The measure itself would not stop the governor’s July 1 mandate, which Newsom argues would increase accountability, revitalize downtown Sacramento and improve government services.

Instead, the bill would enable agencies to shape their own policies. Citing a 2024 state audit, Assemblymember Alex Lee, the bill’s author, said that allowing state workers to work remotely would save the state money, reduce pollution and boost productivity and employee morale.

• Lee, a Milpitas Democrat: “As we grapple with the affordability crisis, we want to make sure that our downtowns and urban cores are not places where workers have to be, but where workers want to be. … It’s not fair to shackle our office workers to be the entire bedrock for downtowns.”

Lee’s proposal would also require agencies to provide written justification if employees must work in-office, and the state’s Department of General Services would have to create a dashboard to display the cost-effectiveness and other benefits of state telework programs.

Like many employers, California’s state government embraced remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2024 Newsom has been calling for state employees to return to the office, initially requiring two days out of the workweek and then bumping that up to four. Though a four-day mandate was supposed to kick in last year, Newsom postponed the policy for some state worker unions during labor negotiations as a way to cut payroll expenses.

State worker unions — except the ones representing public safety employees — are supporting Lee’s measure. They include the state’s largest, SEIU Local 1000, which is in contract negotiations with Newsom. It has given at least $2 million to current California lawmakers, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

Said one state worker with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation at the hearing: “We spent seven years and millions of dollars to go paperless … I can do my work evaluating pesticides from the space station if necessary.”

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.