California engineers union sues over return-to-office order’s effects on managers
In the latest legal challenge to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office mandate, the state engineers union has filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court saying the governor failed to notify a subset of represented employees — supervisors and managers — in implementing the order.
The Professional Engineers in California Government sued the Governor’s Office and CalHR Wednesday, alleging both violated the Excluded Employee Bill of Rights, state labor law that applies to public workers who are not covered by the Ralph C. Dills Act.
By failing to meet and confer with the union over the impact of a return-to-office order on supervisors and managers in early March, Newsom violated state labor law, the union alleges.
Since Newsom directed state workers to return to in-person work four days a week starting in July, several unions have filed unfair labor practices that allege the administration violated state labor laws by failing to meet and confer over the impacts of the policy change.
No labor group has more aggressively challenged the Governor’s Office on this front than the Professional Engineers in California Government.
The state engineers union previously filed unfair labor practices against individual departments, including the California Department of Transportation, over the telework policy. A labor lawyer with the state employment board issued a complaint in April that said the governor may have violated PECG’s collective bargaining rights when issuing his March executive order.
The state engineers union filed the lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court because California’s Public Employment Relations Board does not have jurisdiction to enforce the excluded employees’ bill of rights.
In the complaint, the union said that state labor law requires the state to notify labor groups of policy changes that will impact working conditions. Because the governor’s return-to-office order will impact supervisors and managers, in addition to rank-and-file workers, the state ran afoul of union members’ rights by failing to notify them.
According to the lawsuit, the union represents roughly 3,400 excluded employees, who are classified as managers and supervisors related to Bargaining Unit 9. That bargaining unit represents state engineers, most of whom work for Caltrans.
Ted Toppin, the union’s executive director, said the lawsuit is the union’s only available tool to protect supervisory members from the governor’s “illegal executive order.”
“PECG always prefers meeting and talking to lawsuits and court dates,” Toppi said in a statement. “But PECG wasn’t offered the first, so now we have to avail ourselves of the second.”
A CalHR spokesperson, responding on behalf of the department and the Governor’s Office, declined to comment on the pending litigation.
With less than a month before public employees who are eligible for hybrid work are expected to be in state offices four days a week, unions and the workers they represent are running short on time to delay the return-to-office mandate.
Earlier this week, a group of bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to Newsom with a request to delay the telework policy change until the California State Auditor releases a report on the efficacy and potential savings associated with remote work.
In response, the Governor’s Office affirmed July 1 would remain the implementation date.
This story was originally published June 8, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
