CT state agencies tried to limit telework in 2022, were overturned in arbitration

Several state agencies attempted to limit or cap the amount of time state employees could work from home, but those attempts were determined to violate the state’s telework policy, according to three arbitration decisions made in 2022 and received by Inside Investigator through a Freedom of Information Request.

The Office of the Attorney General, Department of Transportation, and Department of Social Services all attempted to either deny or limit the amount of time certain state employees could work from home following a policy agreement reached in December of 2021 between Gov. Ned Lamont and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC). That policy allows eligible state employees to request telework “in any amount,” and the right to appeal if they are required to be in the office more than one day per week.

Both the AG’s Office and DSS were accused of implementing caps on telework for their employees, according to the decision. SEBAC, the umbrella organization representing state employees in various bargaining units, argued the AG’s Office imposed a 40 percent cap on “routine” telework for employees, with another possible 40 percent telework on a “situational” basis.

The state argued that the affected employees were not affected at all as they received their telework requests and that the agency developed their guidance based on their operational needs. However, arbitrator Michael Ricci found that the guidance violated state policy.

“The Agency did violate the Policy by granting telework in a complement of Routine and Situational Telework,” Ricci wrote, and ordered the AG’s Office to change their guidance from a split of routine and situational telework to 80 percent routine telework and compensate employees who should have been granted telework days for their mileage driving to the office.

The arbitrator made a similar finding against DSS, which SEBAC argued imposed a 60 percent telework cap on employees who serve various administrative roles including distributing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and other programs.

According to the decision and SEBAC’s argument, DSS implemented their cap before the interest arbitration that made caps impermissible for Connecticut state employees, “then chose to ignore the award by implementing a cap.”

While the state argued it had made a “good faith effort” to provide teleworking opportunities for employees of a “front facing operation,” and was dealing with staffing shortages that had a “monumental effect on the ability to grant telework,” the arbitrator found DSS had violated the state’s telework policy by modifying employee requests from 80 percent telework to 60 percent, and ordered the employees be granted their full telework requests and be compensated for mileage.

Lastly, the Department of Transportation denied telework requests for two employees in the agency’s Materials Evaluation and Specification Unit (MESU), which ensures that materials used in state construction projects are properly formulated, who applied for 50 percent and 20 percent telework.

The head of the MESU at the time, Dr. Robert Lauzon, testified that he knew of no duties that could be performed from home and that telework for this unit was “inappropriate,” and “would have a material negative impact on service delivery to internal or external customers, clients, consumers or the general public.”

In this case, however, the issue was not the agency imposing caps on telework. Rather the arbitrator found DOT had not analyzed and demonstrated “with any facts and/or specific examples on how the telework would negatively impact the delivery of services,” according to the decision. “The lack of quantitative evidence begs the question on the depth of analysis the Agency performed before their denied the application.”

The two affected employees were each granted 20 percent telework time under the arbitration decision.

Connecticut’s telework policy for state employees, like much of telework in the private sector, is a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Gov. Ned Lamont ordered employees whose jobs didn’t require them to be physically present, to work from home.

That eventually culminated in the 2021 policy , however, the question of caps on telework went to arbitration, which became section 4.10, according to the arbitration decision. The Lamont administration was reportedly pushing for agency-wide caps on telework. Under the terms of Section 4.10, eligible state employees may request telework in “any amount the individual believes to be consistent with job duties and operational needs.”

State agencies can then grant, deny or modify those requests, but any request for more than 80 percent telework will not be subject to arbitration; all requests below that amount, however, can be challenged. Since the twelve employees involved in the three arbitration decisions had all requested telework in the amount of 80 percent or less, their denials or modifications were subject to challenge.

According to emails contained within the FOI request to DOT, since the 2022 arbitration decision, 18 more employees within the MESU unit applied for telework. One was denied in order to train a new employee, and five were approved with modifications. A separate 2022 grievance allowed another MESU employee to work 60 percent from home.

Emails from January 2024, show another MESU employee applied for 50 percent telework but was only granted situational telework. That employee filed for arbitration, as well.

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