- ‘You do more work, you do more effective work when you’re physically present at your workplace,’ Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman says.
- State Rep. Jay Edwards says remote work saves taxpayer money. Says he plans to fight plan to have workers return.
- If Senate plan approved by the House and Gov. DeWine, it would take effect Oct. 1 for most employees.
Senate Republicans want to send state employees back to the office at least four days per week.
The proposed change would prohibit most state employees from working at home for more than eight hours in a work week. There are limited exceptions for judicial employees and those with accommodations under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. It would not apply to state university or college employees.
More:Do you have questions about Ohio’s August constitution issue? We want to answer them
“You do more work, you do more effective work when you’re physically present at your workplace,” Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters last week. That’s particularly important for state workers interacting with legislators, Huffman said. “In-person meetings are almost always more effective with the complexity of the issues that we deal with.”
But Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, says remote work saves taxpayers money on renting office space, helps attract qualified candidates and allows people to work outside of city centers.
“I plan to fight against it. I think it’s a bad provision and I think it’s something we’ve got to get fixed,” Edwards said.
Research from Owl Labs on remote, hybrid and office work found 62% of workers feel more productive when working remotely. Two-thirds of workers said they would start looking for another job immediately if they lost the ability to work from home, according to the 2022 survey.
The proposed in-person work schedule was added to a Senate-passed version of the state’s two-year budget. The final budget, which will include input from House legislators, is due June 30. Gov. Mike DeWine can then veto ideas he doesn’t like.
“Do we want to have most people back working (in the office)? Well, sure,” DeWine said. “But it’s a case-by-case situation and we are an employer. We have an obligation to hire the best people we can, fill the positions and to get the job done. We have to have some flexibility to do that, just like any other company.”
DeWine added that to compete for the best workers, the state might need to allow them to work from home or live outside of the city centers. “That may be the only way we’re able to fill a particular position.”
How many state employees work remotely?
It’s not clear how many state employees work in the office four days a week currently. Each department sets its own policies based on the work required. Ohio State Highway Patrol and Ohio prison guards, for example, report to in-person work more than information technology professionals.
In March, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services got the green light to discontinue six leases, saving the state $1.3 million, according to the Department of Administrative Services.
At the Ohio Department of Development, 83% of staff work in the office two or more days per week. Starting Sept. 12, the department is phasing in a return to the office for all employees, a spokeswoman said.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told employees that he would “stay involved” and point out any unforeseen consequences, according to a video sent to staff.
“I understand that this is going to, if it were to become law, create a lot of complications. Many of you have children or aging parents or family members that are sick and this is going to impact, it’s going to complicate your life if it becomes law,” Yost said in the video.
If approved by the House and DeWine, the change would take effect on Oct. 1 for most employees.
Another Senate-approved change would increase the number of weeks that state employees can take paid parental leave from the current four to eight. The first two weeks would be paid at 100% and the next six at 70%. However, the number of weeks is a decrease from what DeWine proposed: 12 weeks of paid leave at 70%.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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ALBANY – State lawmakers are already the highest-paid legislators in the country at $142,000 per year – and now they can work from home, too.
Under new legislative rules approved Thursday, Democratic leaders can now determine what qualifies as “extraordinary circumstances” that would let state Senators and Assembly members attend sessions by video rather than showing up in the state Capitol.
The move left Republican state senators crying foul because state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) will get to decide who gets the remote-work permission slips among GOP and Democratic members alike.
“I think its really quite petty that they treat us like children,” state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-Brentwood) told The Post.
The situation is much different in the lower house where Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Fulton) will respectively call the shots for their own conference members, according to their plans for implementing the new rules.
Palumbo said he worried how a Democratic state senator could hypothetically head on an “emergency vacation to Hawaii” while Republican senators struggle to get approval to attend sessions remotely.
“It’s quite petty and outrageous to not just allow the leaders from each party to make the calls,” Palumbo said.
A quorum of members in both houses will have to be physically present in the state Senate and Assembly chambers to allow vote-by-video attendance for others “in extraordinary circumstances or any other significant or unexpected factor or event,” according to the legislative language.
Some Republicans find the change particularly ill-timed considering how colleagues made themselves the highest-paid legislators in the nation after giving themselves a $32,000 pay raise in a December special session.
“It’s horrible,” state Sen. George Borello (R-Jamestown) said. “They want this elected position to become a $142,000 no-show job.”
But Democrats argue Stewart-Cousins – a spokesman did not provide comment Thursday – will be judicious in making decisions on what situations are extraordinary enough for her to allow a senator to attend sessions by video.
“Each house has its own procedures. The majority leader always has final say, even on excusals currently. That’s always the way it’s been going back to before we held the majority,” State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said.
Republicans are needlessly fretting about Stewart-Cousins favoring fellow Democrats in the future, according to Gianaris.
“In practice, there’s deference to the minority leader for their conference so it’s unlikely this will ever be an issue,” he added.
Democrats note that other public bodies allow members to attend by video following the passage of a state law last year – an idea backed by the good government group Reinvent Albany at a legislative hearing last week.
Still, some Republican senators remain suspicious that Democrats will leverage the situation to their advantage considering the vagueness of the rule language – as well as past power plays from across the aisle that include packing a key committee with opponents of centrist court nominee Hector LaSalle.
“Democrats get to define what “extraordinary circumstances” are and have a history of using remote session to literally mute Republican voices,” state Sen. Mark Walczyk (R-North Country) said.
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