Nebraska Association
of Public Employees

Remote Work Litigation and Grievance Update

While our contract negotiations teams are working on bargaining common sense remote work provisions that would allow for a more efficient and effective state government in our next labor contract, union members are fighting to protect all of our rights in court and through the grievance process. While the legal process is frustratingly slow, our union members are strong and steadfast in protecting our contractual rights and our right to negotiate. 

Union members appealed the Commission on Industrial Relations’ (CIR) remote work decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court over the summer. On October 2, the Supreme Court clarified that it would not accept our appeal filing until the CIR issues a final order regarding the amount of the legal fees it expects our union to pay to the State of Nebraska. This was anticipated, and we purposefully filed our appeal without the fee order to protect our appeal timeline.

The CIR has not yet issued an order regarding the legal fees. When it does, our appeal will be properly filed and heard at the Supreme Court. We anticipate this litigation will take a year or more to conclude.

After the CIR ruled on our union’s prohibited practices petition in July, agencies began revoking remote work assignments and our union proceeded to file grievances to challenge contract violations resulting from the unreasonable implementation of agency remote work policies. The grievances are now pending to be heard by the Nebraska State Personnel Board. Some agencies have filed motions to dismiss the grievances, and the process has slowed for those motions to be argued. We expect the first Personnel Board hearings to take place in early 2025. 

Union members believe that the Supreme Court must ultimately determine whether all the terms and conditions of employment associated with remote work assignments are covered by the current collective bargaining agreement and whether the broad language in the management rights clause of the contract is enough to allow the state to decline to negotiate. 

Further, all public employees in Nebraska have only one remedy under the law when they have a labor dispute: to file with the CIR. The CIR’s decision to award the Attorney General’s office legal fees could have a chilling effect on all workers’ ability to stand up for their rights. We do not believe there is legal authority for the CIR to order us to pay legal fees to a special assistant attorney general, and we will stand up for all working Nebraskans and ask the Supreme Court to rule on this important issue.

We also have a similar pending case at the CIR regarding remote work at the Nebraska Department of Education. We hope to resolve the issue through contract negotiations, however, we expect an early 2025 trial date if necessary.

Nebraska Association of
Public Employees