Justin Hubly, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, leads a noon-hour news conference Dec. 7, 2023, in Lincoln regarding Gov. Jim Pillen's executive order mandating state employees return to in-peson offices by Jan. 2, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — The union representing Nebraska state employees has appealed a labor court’s July decision that sided with Gov. Jim Pillen to end most remote work assignments.
The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, announced Monday it had appealed the July 11 decision from the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations. At the time, the commission said the state had unilateral authority to set workplace locations and procedures.
The Nebraska Supreme Court will determine whether it will take up the appeal.
“We’ve made the decision to appeal not to debate the virtues of remote work, but rather to protect our members’ right to negotiate and to obtain clarity from Nebraska’s high court on when the state must negotiate the terms and conditions of employment,” Justin Hubly, executive director of the union, said in a statement.
An opinion from the commission upheld Pillen’s executive order that had been set to take effect Jan. 2, 2024, but stalled in the courts. Pillen in his November 2023 order said the COVID-19 pandemic was over.
He described the July ruling as “vindication” of the state’s right to determine that workers come into the office to work “where they can be the most productive.” He also said any public employees still working remotely should be prepared to work in person days later, on July 15.
Laura Strimple, a spokesperson for Pillen, pointed to other public servants remaining in person before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes state troopers, correctional officers and transportation workers.
“The governor has confidence in the legal process and in the state’s legal team as this case progresses to a conclusion,” she said in an email.
Another major component of the July decision came in requiring the employees union to pay legal fees on behalf of the state, arguing it engaged in a “disingenuous maneuver.”
“The totality of the record before the Commission demonstrates that Petitioner [the employees union] engaged in a pattern of willful, flagrant, aggravated, persistent and pervasive prohibited misconduct by pursuing this action in bad faith,” the commission wrote.
Hubly has said that could “chill” future labor complaints from being brought forward. He said Monday that public employees shouldn’t have to weigh filing a complaint with having to pay “exorbitant legal fees” if the commission disagrees.
“We will not be intimidated from exercising our rights,” Hubly said.
In September, the union will begin negotiating its next labor contract for the next two fiscal years. A news release states the union will prioritize new language to allow remote work where it is efficient and effective and that it hopes Pillen will meet with the union to end the litigation.
“We are confident that we can work with the Governor on a solution that sets the State of Nebraska up for success for years to come,” Hubly said. “We’re all better off when we work together.”
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