A second state worker union secures delay to Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order
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- Gov. Newsom's return-to-office order delayed to July 2026 for state attorneys.
- Tentative deal grants 3% raise but offsets pay with monthly unpaid leave hours.
- Unions continue individual negotiations as remote work policies remain contested.
A second cohort of state workers can continue working from home, after Gov. Gavin Newsom struck a deal with the state attorneys union to delay his return-to-office order until July 2026, a labor group announced Wednesday.
The concession was part of a tentative agreement the California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment reached with the state. It included many of the same proposals secured by the state engineers union, notably pushing back the deadline for public employees to begin working from offices four days a week.
“This contract represents the best possible outcome under California’s uncertain fiscal and legislative landscape,” Tim O’Connor, the president of CASE, said in a statement. “The tentative agreement protects our members’ top priorities: flexibility to do our jobs effectively, protection from budgetary threats, and meaningful improvements to compensation.”
The months-long campaign by state workers and their unions to push back against Newsom’s directive has taken the form of protests, public billboards and legal challenges.
In the week leading up to the July 1 return-to-office deadline, Newsom has softened on his initial hard-line stance on the issue. Now, workers represented by two of the state’s 21 bargaining units will maintain their current telework policy, which requires employees to work in person at least two days a week.
Other unions are hoping to secure a similar deal for their members, but CalHR, the state’s chief labor negotiator, has said that each bargaining unit negotiation is separate. The department did not immediately answer questions about whether the return-to-office order would be rescinded for other bargaining units.
CASE represents over 5,000 state employees, about a quarter of whom work for the Attorney General’s Office, which did not direct workers to return to offices as the department is not under the governor’s jurisdiction.
The lawyers’ tentative agreement also included a 3% raise for all members this year, which other bargaining units also secured. Though that salary increase will be offset by a personal leave program that will result in a 4.6% reduction in pay.
That reduction amounts to eight hours of unpaid leave each month, which is more time each pay period than agreed to by other bargaining units. Alternatively, the attorneys union’s stretch of unpaid leave will last for 16 months while the engineers and correctional officers’ personal leave program would last for two years, if union members and the Legislature approve those tentative agreements.
Another similarity between the tentative agreements: No general salary increases in 2026 or 2027. The state attorneys union, like the engineers, secured special salary adjustments in 2027 — 4.5% for senior attorneys and deputy attorneys general at the top of their pay scales and 2% for all others. Administrative law judges at the highest end of their pay scales are not eligible for the 4.5% special salary increase under the current agreement.
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 5:13 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified which employees would receive a special salary increase. The story has been updated.
