On Wednesday, October 22, our Union team met with CDE regarding their intent to implement an Automated Telework agreement for employees who work at Headquarters, their Pomona and Sacramento Distribution Centers, and the Bus Driver Instructor Training Facility. Along with this new agreement, the department is also distributing a Hybrid Work Best Practices form. Our meeting focused on understanding any new commitments or requirements for our SEIU Local 1000 represented employees at those worksites.
We started our conversation by getting additional information about the Automated Telework Agreement. The Automated Telework Agreement is a new format of an existing telework form. With two small exceptions, it does not change the current Telework guidance from the department.
The first exception is that this automated form creates a new requirement for employees to have their cameras on during virtual meetings (whether with internal staff or external participants). Employees can work with their manager to be granted an exemption from this requirement on a case-by-case basis.
The second exception is that this automated form creates a new requirement for employees to use a “professional” background. For internal meetings, this means either blurring your background or using a work-appropriate virtual background. For external meetings, this means a CDE-branded background. According to CDE, any background with the CDE logo and branding will meet this requirement.
Next, we addressed the Hybrid Best Practices document. The Hybrid Best Practices document is not a list of binding requirements; it is a record of what CDE believes are the best practices related to a hybrid work environment. Managers may determine that they wish to make some of the best practices binding expectations on employees by working through their established process for creating new expectations. If managers are improperly instituting these as firm requirements, the CDE encourages employees to speak with their next-level manager or their Union representative to explore enforcement options.
This was our second meeting with CDE on this topic, and we were pleased to learn that they took our feedback from the prior meeting and reincorporated the notes section in this automated form. We encourage employees to utilize this section to raise relevant issues related to matters such as FLSA-exempt status, distance from the assigned worksite, or any other concerns. Our Union is continuing to work on ways to ensure that our represented employees at CDE have their contract rights protected throughout this updated implementation. If you are interested in getting more involved, please contact your steward or your Unit Chair.