Telework Update: EDD

On June 22, 2026, SEIU Local 1000 held a meet and confer with the Employment Development Department (EDD) regarding the Return-to-Office (RTO) mandate effective July 1, 2026. The team was able to confirm individual exemptions for medical or Reasonable Accommodations as well as if an employee lives 50 miles or more from their worksite and had a mutually agreeable telework policy in place as of March 2025. EDD confirmed they will also consider other requests on a case-by-case basis.

Call Center/Contact Center units are exempt as whole units. Also, numerous divisions and work groups are temporarily exempt, using rotating systems, or temporarily delayed due to work space allocation needs. SEIU has asked EDD for a breakdown of those impacted units.

EDD had not identified issue with the previous telework policy, had not identified changes to be made to the telework policy prior to the executive order, and will not revert back if the impact is determined to have had a negative impact on staffing, morale, or productivity.

EDD also confirmed they are not creating mechanisms to capture information to evaluate the impact of collaboration, cohesion, culture, or accountability. There is no consideration for relocation cost, financial assistance or hardship transfers unless they would already meet the criteria outside of RTO. 

The team made several proposals to EDD regarding full-time telework, parking, safe access, and commute assistance. The department confirmed they would consider and follow up at a later date during a follow-up meeting.

There are still items that need further clarification such as:

• The criteria for exempting Call Center units and if other units are being considered
• Breakdown of work groups/units that will be transitioned, phased in, or delayed after July 1 due to space and worksite needs
• The expectation for employees on alternate work week schedules or part-time employees for 4 days in office
• Whether EDD intends to and needs to acquire more worksites
• If cubicle sizes are being reduced as a result of the 4 day RTO implementation 
• If there are any custodial staffing or work process plans changed based off the additional staff returning after July 1
• Expectation for leave used on in office days and “make-ups”
• If there are units using rotating schedules or other temporary scheduling due to space limitations 
• Worksites with available parking and if there will be changes to parking allocation 
• Management has discretion to consider requests to flex remote days and consider additional requests for remote days

However, EDD confirmed they intend to move forward with 4 days in office, per the Governor’s mandate.