Gov. Newsom’s RTO order starts today. Here’s what we know — what we don’t
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order has arrived.
Roughly 108,000 state workers are now required to work from government offices four days a week after six years of flexible telework policies.
The multi-year fight over telework galvanized state workers and their unions after Newsom first tried last year to increase how many days a week state employees work from government offices. Unions secured a major victory after successfully winning a 12-month delay to the return-to-office order until July 2026 after negotiating with the Newsom administration.
As today’s deadline loomed, state workers and their labor representatives continued their vocal opposition, advocating to preserve telework by proposing legislation, protesting in downtown Sacramento and filing a unique lawsuit to block the return-to-office order. None of those measures stopped the governor from carrying out the policy change.
Despite the long run-up, however, questions remain about whether government offices have enough space for all returning employees and how much the transition back to in-person work will eventually cost the state. The Newsom administration has maintained that the state’s office space needs are confidential.
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about Newsom’s return-to-office order.
What we do know
The vast majority of the more than 200 departments that make up California’s state government are expected to bring employees back to offices four days a week.
A handful of departments that report to other elected officials, including the Department of Justice and the California Department of Education, are not subject to the governor’s order and are not changing existing telework policies. Other quasi-independent agencies, such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, are also not following the governor’s executive order.
Some state workers have received exemptions to the return-to-office order, but it’s not clear how many. The California Department of Human Resources recommended that state employees who live 50 miles or more from their duty stations be exempt from the four-day requirement, but it is up to individual departments to approve those exemptions.
In some instances, state workers have also received exemptions due to insufficient office space or because of their job duties, but it’s also not clear how many state workers have received such exemptions.
Unions made various attempts to stop the return-to-office order from going into effect before July 1, but those were unsuccessful.
The union representing state attorneys had requested an injunction against Newsom’s order, relying on the state’s signature environmental law to argue that the telework policy change would harm California’s environment. But that was denied by an Alameda Superior Court judge on Monday.
A bill to secure more telework protections, sponsored by unions, is still moving through the Legislature. Even if Newsom signed the bill, which appears unlikely, it would not overturn the governor’s executive order.
What we don’t know
Questions remain about the governor’s motivation for the return-to-office order, which is deeply unpopular.
Newsom has stated that in-person collaboration, mentorship and building trust with the government are primary reasons for the policy change — but many state workers are skeptical of this reasoning.
The California State Auditor reported last year that the Governor’s Office did not supply auditors with job performance or productivity data that may have informed Newsom’s decision. Despite requests, the Governor’s Office has not provided qualitative or quantitative evidence to support the decision to call state workers back to offices.
In a letter sent to cabinet secretaries last month, the Governor’s Office reported that 98% of state departments have sufficient office space to accommodate returning employees — but it’s not clear how the administration came to this conclusion.
Last year, departments submitted reports to the Newsom administration about office space availability, which revealed that the state was short thousands of workstations, and more than 70 state offices could not accommodate workers ahead of the original July 2025 deadline.
Since then, the Governor’s Office has refused to provide The Bee with any information about departments’ office space availability, claiming that the information is confidential.
The cost of bringing state employees back to offices is also unknown.
The state auditor’s report estimated that California could save $225 million annually by reducing office space property expenses. The Governor’s Office has not responded to questions about how much it will cost the state to bring employees back to offices.
On Friday, Assembly budget adviser Jason Sisney said that the return-to-office order was not part of this year’s budget negotiations.
