Nebraska Commission Ruling Compels State Workers to Return to Office

In what one media outlet described as a “scathing ruling,” a Nebraska commission has upheld Gov. Jim Pillen’s executive order that requires the state’s employees to return to in-office work.

In November 2023, Pillen issued an executive order directing Nebraska state workers to return to the office on a full-time basis by Jan. 2 of this year.

As the Nebraska Examiner reported at the time, Pillen described the move as fitting a “common sense expectation” that employees are most productive when working together in an office, while one state union official expressed concern that ordering state employees to work in person would hamper recruitment and retention efforts at a time when many state agencies were short-staffed.

Justin Hubly is executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees (NAPE), which represents nearly 8,000 Nebraska state employees. On the heels of Pillen issuing the aforementioned order, Hubly told the Examiner that the state might have saved money by increasing remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that its appropriate for some roles—accounting, payroll supervision or other positions that aren’t public-facing, for instance—to be performed remotely.

“We’re still super short-staffed,” said Hubly. “I’m really fearful if we force people back, we’re going to lose a workforce.”

NAPE ultimately challenged the order in court, contending that the change was a prohibited practice, and that the order couldn’t be carried out without bargaining between the union and the state. The Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) put the governor’s order on pause while it considered the matter.

On July 11, the CIR dismissed the challenge, finding that the state had not violated the law. The commission issued its ruling “with prejudice,” going so far as to say the union “acted in bad faith and characterizing the challenge as a “disingenuous maneuver,” according to AP News.

With the decision handed down, Nebraska state employees were due to report back to the office on July 15. The commission also ruled that NAP must pay attorney fees, to be determined at a later date. Hubly told media outlets that step was “outrageous, saying this step “was meant to chill workers and employee unions from going to the CIR in the future with their complaints.”

Meanwhile, a statement from Pillen’s office deemed the ruling “a vindication of the state’s right to determine that its public servants will come into work where they can be most productive.”

The pandemic “is long over,” the statement read, “and it is likewise long overdue that our full workforce is physically back.”