A Superior Court judge ruled Saturday that he would not grant an injunction of the state’s return-to-office policy, paving the way for the state to enforce its Dec. 1 deadline for employees to begin in-person work.
The Vermont State Employees’ Association had filed the lawsuit last month to challenge Gov. Phil Scott’s decision to order almost all state employees back to in-person work three days a week.
In court last Wednesday, the union’s attorney argued that the policy would cause irreparable harm to certain employees forced to relocate or change their child care arrangements, among other impacts. That irreparable harm, Alfred Gordon O’Connell said, gives the court the right to intervene.
But in the ruling, Washington County Superior Court Judge Daniel Richardson sided with the state’s argument that employees have sufficient relief available through the state’s exemption process, in which employees can request temporary or long-term exemptions for their personal circumstances.
Of the 3,000 employees newly expected to come into the office, 425 have requested exemptions, according to the state’s data cited in the decision. Only 25 exemptions have been granted, while the rest are pending.
“On the present record, the Court would be speculating as to the scope, nature, and even severity of the harm if it went forward to grant relief in this case,” Richardson wrote.
“This is not to say that there are not State employees who will be affected by this policy,” he continued. “Nor is it to minimize the hardships or concerns of those individuals, but it is to recognize that there are several processes in play, presently, that render a decision at this time from this Court inappropriate.”
The union has also filed complaints with the Vermont Labor Relations Board, which has scheduled an investigatory conference on Wednesday to determine whether the case should move forward, O’Connell said at the hearing.
