In August 2025, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced that roughly 3,000 of the state’s government employees would be required to work in the office at least three days a week, starting Dec. 1 of last year.
The directive was part of Scott’s plan to roll back a significant expansion of the remote work options the state offered to employees at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.
As VTDigger reported on the heels of Scott’s announcement, the Vermont State Employees’ Association (VSEA) “strongly opposed the move,” saying that hundreds of Vermont state employees had shared concerns about returning to the office.
“The top down, managers-know-all approach is an abject failure when it comes to supporting your staff and the morale of staff,” Steve Howard, VSEA executive director, told the publication last August.
The Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB) recently overturned the mandate, and directed the state to rehire any employees who’d left their jobs as a result of the return-to-office order. The board also ordered that the state compensate employees for any monetary losses brought on by the policy change, as Vermont Public reported.
Scott’s office quickly issued a statement condemning the April 1 decision, saying that it made clear that “the Labor Relations Board is broken, and a fair, unbiased process is impossible with the present Board makeup.”
The VSEA released an April 1 statement as well, calling the labor board’s decision “fair and thoughtful,” and saying that Scott “is not listening to the frontline workers who are telling him that remote work encourages more collaboration and better outcomes for the state.”
Noting that the panel that issued the decision was comprised entirely of Scott appointees, the VSEA said that Scott appointed these LRB members “to do exactly what they did, stand up for the rule of law. We find the governor’s rhetoric to be dangerous and unaligned with the values of the people of the state of Vermont.”
13 April 2026
Category
HR News Article
