Nebraska's commission responsible for settling labor disputes said Wednesday that some state departments violated the commission's order to pause return-to-office directives for remote workers represented by the state's largest public employee union.
The Commission of Industrial Relations in December granted the Nebraska Association of Public Employees temporary relief from Gov. Jim Pillen's executive order broadly ending remote and hybrid work for executive branch employees.
In a Dec. 29 order, the CIR told the state to keep the status quo in place as commissioners consider NAPE's petition seeking to force the state to negotiate the terms of remote work for public employees.
The December order was meant to ensure that NAPE members who had work-from-home agreements in place prior to Pillen's return-to-office mandate could continue working remotely until the commission ultimately decides whether Pillen has the authority to unilaterally end remote work under the state's labor contract with NAPE.
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But days after the CIR issued its December order, some state departments began contacting remote and hybrid employees to notify them that their previously agreed-upon hybrid or work remote arrangements had been terminated and that they would be required to return to their physical worksite in mid-January.
NAPE then filed a petition in Lancaster County District Court, asking a judge to enforce the CIR's order and to hold the state in contempt. The union accused the state of "willfully and contumaciously" violating the CIR's order.
Now, in an order issued late Wednesday, the CIR has offered clarity on its December order, which the commission said left "no doubt" that the remote work status of union members "was not to be altered during the pendency of this case."
The latest order — which, like December's order, applies only to NAPE members who had a remote work agreement in place prior to Pillen's executive order issued in November — marks another win for the union in the labor dispute that has for months pitted the governor against thousands of state employees.
“The CIR’s latest order removes whatever doubt the State of Nebraska believed existed to allow it to ignore the CIR’s Dec. 29 order,†Justin Hubly, the union's executive director, said in a statement Thursday. “Should any agency take action that violates this order, they do so at their own peril.
"Our union will hold management accountable for their actions, and should they ignore this order, they should expect to be held in contempt by the District Court.â€
It's unclear if the state intends to comply with the CIR's latest order. A spokeswoman for Pillen's office did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
At a brief Wednesday hearing in District Court, the attorney litigating the labor dispute for the state, Mark Fahleson, offered a glimpse of the state's rationale for having defied the CIR's initial order.
Fahleson argued that the commission's December order, which required the state to maintain the status quo as it existed prior to Pillen's return-to-office directive, did not undermine the state's ability to end remote work agreements with individual employees, since state departments could have done so prior to the executive order.Â
The commission dismissed that argument in its latest order, but the state will have another chance to make its case in District Court, where the two sides are scheduled to appear on Jan. 19 to take up the union's motion to hold the state in contempt.
The CIR has yet to ultimately decide whether Pillen has the authority to order state employees back to work.
NAPE has argued that such a unilateral change in terms and conditions of employment requires the state to negotiate with the union.
The state, which has twice declined to reopen negotiations with the union, has argued that its labor contract with NAPE gives Pillen the authority to dictate employees' worksites.