DHHS Dress Code Grievance Filed

Dory Howell is a seven-year veteran Social Service Worker at the ACCESSNebraska Fremont Customer Service Center. Like many DHHS employees, she was frustrated when DHHS announced its new dress code policy. The changes will cost Dory money that she doesn’t have, they will require her to obtain an ADA accommodation to wear comfortable shoes, and they are unreasonable because Dory only interacts with clients over the phone from the call center. She has never once been asked by a client, “what are you wearing?”


With the assistance of her NAPE union stewards and the signature support of over 200 colleagues, Dory filed a grievance this morning to challenge the dress code revisions as a violation of Articles 1.4 & 1.5 of the NAPE contract on behalf of all DHHS employees. This is the first step in NAPE’s efforts to fight back against this unreasonable policy. We also believe the State has an obligation to bargain with NAPE over these changes. 
We are working with the State’s chief negotiator and DHHS to come to an agreeable solution. While we feel the dress code is unreasonable, we want to be reasonable in our approach to solving this problem. We are prepared, however, to file a demand to bargain and a prohibited practice charge with the Nebraska Commission on Industrial Relations if the State refuses to negotiate. 

We will have more updates as we stand up for our rights! Will you join us in this fight?