VSEA warns committee chronic understaffing, safety problems at state agencies amount to a "public safety and public health emergency"

Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees Association, told the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee that severe and chronic understaffing in several state agencies — most notably the Department of Corrections and parts of the Agency of Human Services — has produced dangerous working conditions for employees and poses risks to public safety.

"We think it's a public safety and public health emergency," Howard said, describing members working repeated 16-hour shifts, falling asleep while commuting and facing physical assaults on the job. "They're working 16 hour shift after 16 hour shift after 16 hour shift."

Howard, who said the union represents more than 6,000 public employees across the executive branch, judiciary and state colleges, told the committee that workers report missing bathroom breaks and being unable to secure relief during shifts. He described one family call in which an employee fell asleep while driving and wrecked his car, and another worker who had to replace four bumpers after dozing at the wheel.

The union leader said understaffing has affected placements for justice-involved youth since the closure of the Woodside rehabilitative facility, leaving caseworkers to provide overnight supervision for young people they were not trained to manage. "I was not trained to be a residential counselor. I was trained to be a caseworker," Howard said, adding that the mix of heavy daytime caseloads and unplanned night shifts is driving employees to quit.

Howard also raised safety and security concerns for employees who work in public-facing state buildings. He described an incident in White River Junction in which a man repeatedly returned to a state office building and cleaned an automatic weapon on a memorial picnic table outside, prompting a lockdown and law-enforcement response. "Vermonters had to the services to Vermonters were delayed because they had to go through added security," Howard said, arguing the state should consider codifying a rule that would prohibit firearms in or near state buildings.

He said frontline employees are also being harassed on social media over policies they carry out — for example, reactions after the end of a motel voucher program — and that the harassment has demoralized workers and raised safety concerns. "Our members carry out policies that the administration asked them to carry out. They don't make the policies," Howard said.

Howard asked the committee to pay attention to staffing issues across corrections, Department for Children and Families (DCF) placements, mental-health facilities and other divisions as part of its 2025 agenda. He noted the union will seek involvement in discussions around the Agency of Human Services reorganization required by Act 119 and urged the committee to consider staff views as the administration prepares an interim report on reorganization on Feb. 1 and final recommendations in the fall.

No formal motions or votes were recorded on these topics during the portion of the meeting excerpted in the transcript.