State employees urge bargaining on remote‑work rules as agency cites prior telework policy and pending labor board case

Senators heard competing accounts Tuesday about S.228, a bill that would require collective bargaining over remote, in‑person and hybrid work standards for state employees.

Mariah Ogden, a Vermont Department of Health employee who spoke using leave time, told the Senate Committee on Government Operations that the administration’s return‑to‑office rollout was hastily implemented and has created operational headaches and lower morale. "Nobody bothered to reconcile my job duties with mailroom access," Ogden said, describing nearly an hour spent trying to send a letter because of changed access. She said the administration acted unilaterally "making major changes to the terms and conditions of state employment" without bargaining and asked senators to support S.228 so the state will "come to the table and bargain."

The bill’s supporters included Jennifer "Jen" Campbell, a public health analyst at the Vermont Department of Health, who said she was authorized in 2023 to work fully remotely from Maine and that remote work kept her in her job during a period when childcare was unavailable. Campbell told senators the return‑to‑office rule would force her either to resign or to move back to Vermont: "My role does not require me to…