Is this CA agency violating a contract by calling state workers back to the office?
While the state worker community was savoring its win of preserving work from home privileges, employees at one California agency were being told by officials to prepare to return to offices.
Earlier this month, the California Public Utilities Commission announced workers would be back in offices two days a week by Sept. 8 after most had been working fully remote for over five years. CPUC employees thought that the one-year delay to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order would ensure they could continue following their current remote work conditions. The change confused and frustrated employees.
“They’re not following any type of protocol,” said Terry Gray, who works for the commission and serves as a board member for SEIU Local 1000. “I would say PUC has gone rogue.”
By failing to “meet and confer” with labor representatives over the impacts of the telework policy change, Gray and other union members said, the commission has violated its agreement with SEIU Local 1000. Last month, SEIU Local 1000 and other labor groups signed side letters with the state that delayed the return-to-office order for one year in exchange for helping California trim its payroll expenses.
On Friday, after this story’s publication, the agency announced it would delay the return-to-office order for union-represented employees until 2026.
Terrie Prosper, CPUC spokesperson, said the commission is complying with all meet-and-confer requests from its employee unions and will continue to do so.
“We are still finalizing operational details regarding in-person work and will continue to communicate with our employees as this process progresses,” Prosper said.
The commission did not respond to specific questions about whether the policy change might be in conflict with the side letter. The commission employs over 1,500 full-time workers, according to state employee data.
Those side letters, and the original labor contracts unions have with the state, don’t dictate specific telework policies departments must adhere to — like the number of days employees can work from home — but those agreements do outline what steps agencies need to take when making changes to working conditions.
Does CPUC’s telework policy violate SEIU’s agreement?
As some state workers noted when the side letters were made public, those agreements delayed Newsom’s return-to-office order for a year but did not explicitly ban departments from changing telework policies after a three-month window.
“Nothing in this Side Letter prohibits a department from modifying employees’ telework agreements as long as departments comply with the requirements of the MOU, except for ninety (90) days following the ratification of this Side Letter, departments will not initiate any changes to telework policies,” SEIU Local 1000’s side letter reads.
The side letter was signed on June 28. Ninety days from that date is Sept. 26.
The earlier deadline set by CPUC of Sept. 8 could be the secret to the union’s success in resisting the policy change.
“It does appear that the language appears susceptible to SEIU’s argument that PUC has to wait 90 days,” said Tim Yeung, a public sector labor expert.
Based on SEIU Local 1000’s contract and the recently signed side letter with the state, departments do have the authority to change telework policies, Yeung noted. But agencies are bound by a labor agreement that requires notification of labor groups of the change 30 days in advance, and an opportunity to discuss the impacts of that change.
Gray, who is also the president of an SEIU district labor council that represents utility commissions’ workers, alleges that CPUC violated state labor law by not negotiating the impacts of the policy change.
Katherine Stockton, a steward with SEIU Local 1000, and dozens of other CPUC employees spoke out against the return-to-office order during a public meeting Thursday. Employees represented by the state attorneys and administrative law judges union also spoke in opposition to the telework change, highlighting the lack of private meeting rooms or office spaces to conduct confidential business.
Stockton said in an interview that the union filed a grievance against CPUC, alleging the agency violated the side letter.
“This does not promote harmonious labor relations, and it does not help employee morale to violate our side letter agreement,” Stockton said.
CPUC: Policy change unrelated to governor’s order
Many of the utility commission employees who spoke during Thursday’s public comment period remarked how much they enjoyed their jobs and the flexibility associated with telework. They noted in-person work can complicate child care and increase personal costs associated with commuting.
Since 2020, CPUC employees have enjoyed fully remote working conditions, while their colleagues in other departments were called to return to state offices at least two days a week.
When Newsom issued his first return-to-office order in April 2024, CPUC maintained some degree of independence from the executive branch by not calling workers back to offices. The governor appoints all five commissioners, who serve staggered terms.
In March, when Newsom told employees they would be expected in offices four days a week, the commission informed its employees that it was evaluating the executive order.
Two months later, CPUC Executive Director Rachel Peterson told public employees they would be expected to work in person just two days a week — the telework policy most of the state was under. Managers and supervisors would be expected to begin in-person work on July 1. Employees represented by the union would be called back Sept. 8. CPUC issued those deadlines before unions signed side letters with the state.
After the agreements were made public, CPUC said the telework policy change was not tied to the governor’s March return-to-office order.
Stockton said the agency was using “alternative facts” by saying the policy change wasn’t related to the executive order.
“Telework has been a proven success,” Stockton said. “The CPUC should follow the rules, and meet with unions to mitigate impacts to staff.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Is this CA agency violating a contract by calling state workers back to the office?."
