UPDATE: Titles of Included and Excluded Classes
-5/28/1
Appendix A (Eligible To Telecommute)
Appendix B (Ineligible To Telecommute for the interim plan)
Appendix C (Ineligible To Telecommute for the interim plan while under dispute)
After two years of contentious negotiations, we finally have an interim agreement with the state to make telecommuting a right and a reality. In case you haven’t been following the history of this, our 2017 SEBAC agreement included a provision that made telecommuting a grievable right. Since then we have been in negotiations with the State to make this idea a reality. We now have signed interim agreement.
This is a big deal. For the first time, telecommuting will exist as a right and not just by the discretion of management. This interim agreement represents what we hope will be the beginning of the biggest non-economic advance in our rights package since the inception of AWS decades ago.
What does this mean? For the first time, most A&R members will be able to work from home and appeal a decision of management to deny telecommuting. While this agreement is far from perfect, this program will begin on July 1st, 2019 and will continue until we reach a final agreement with the State.
While this is an important first step, there is much work left to do. As mentioned, this is an “interim” agreement. There are many aspects of this plan that we are continuing to contest and expect to arbitrate. Some of these issues include the state’s exclusion of some job classifications that should be able to telecommute, that we want to make the application process more fair and streamlined, and that the right to telecommute should generally be more expansive.
Here’s what you need to know:
View the entire Interim Telework Guidelines
Not all job titles are included in Telecommuting. The list of allowable titles and excluded titles is not yet complete but will be posted as soon as it becomes available.
To participate in Telecommuting, there are 3 forms to complete:
If you want to telecommute, even on an intermittent or case-by-case basis, please submit an application to your supervisor and manager. The actual Telecommuting program won’t go into effect until July 1, 2019, however, we would recommend that you begin the application process as early as June 1, 2019 to make sure that your applications can be acted upon prior to the beginning of the program roll-out.
We have assembled a quick FAQ for Telecommuting to answer some of the basic questions that will arise.
We have also created an email address specifically for telecommuting questions, so if you have issues with telecommuting, please direct them to telework@andr.org