When Gov. Ned Lamont closed executive branch offices on January 26 due to a massive snowstorm, instructing level 2 employees, whose jobs are not deemed essential, to stay home, there was no reference to telework. Unlike past instructions, the order only stated that “level 2 executive branch state employees should not report to work.”

January 26, 2026, marked the first time Lamont had closed state offices due to weather since 2024 and the language issued by the Office of the Governor this year was markedly different from the language used in previous state office closures in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

“All level 2 state employees who are able to telework shall telework for the duration of the storm-related closures,” Lamont directed in 2022. “All level 2 executive branch employees whose job duties can be completed remotely should telework, or they may request use of accrued leave,” was the press release in 2024.

What changed was a 2023 grievance filed by the Administrative and Residual (A&R) employees’ union that challenged Lamont’s language, saying state employees “shall” telework or should request leave time, and an arbitrator’s decision in August of 2024.

At least 13,000 executive branch state employees have been approved for telework since the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) and the Lamont administration reached an arbitrated agreement in 2021 in response to the COVID pandemic. Under the agreement, state employees can be approved to work from home anywhere from one to five days per week, thus allowing some state employees to work from virtually anywhere all week long, provided their department approves it. For many employees, it is a hybrid schedule – some days at home and some days in the office.

Under the terms of the telework agreement, however, state employees don’t necessarily have to telework during days when state offices are closed due to weather, and they don’t have to use accrued time if they choose not to work. 

According to the policy, if an employee is scheduled to telework on a day that state offices are closed for weather or any other emergency, that employee must still telework. Conversely, if the employee was supposed to be in the office on a day when state offices are closed, they cannot be required to telework or use leave time.

“Teleworkers may be requested to telework on non-telework days as operational needs dictate or in the event of an emergency (e.g. power outage, flooding/water damage at official duty station etc.),” the telework policy states. “Acceptance of such request shall be at the option of the employee.”

In August of 2024, an arbitrator “ruled that there was nothing in the agreement that allowed the State to direct office-designated employees to Telework,” the A&R Union wrote on August 21, 2024. “To the contrary, the arbitrator noted that this exact situation was described in the agreement and that telework was voluntary under these circumstances.”

The Lamont administration was directed to cease mandating telework or the use of leave time, and those employees who did use leave time during the previous winter storms were to be credited that time back; those who did telework during those snow days were awarded days off.

It was at least the second such arbitration decision that dealt a blow to the Lamont administration’s efforts to impose some limitations on state employee telework following the initial agreement and the end of the pandemic. Several state agencies had tried to cap the amount of time state employees could work from home, but were shot down in a series of arbitrated decisions in 2022.

Lamont has indicated in the past that he would like to see state employees return to the office and, following some tragedies involving the Department of Children and Families, Republican leaders and the Office of the Child Advocate criticized the use of telework, arguing that it has led to a lack of supervision by more experienced employees. 

Despite those concerns, any effort to claw back the work from home provisions for Connecticut state employees has met fierce resistance. House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, submitted a bill in 2025 to allow state agencies to require employees return to in-person work. 

“Following the pandemic, more and more of our state employees began working from home – a policy that most of us believed would be temporary in duration but in fact has become the normal practice across all state agencies,” Candelora wrote in testimony to the Labor and Public Employees Committee. “Many state workers need to work on-site only one day per week. While that may be appropriate and sufficient in certain situations, not all of our state workers can adequately serve the public while working from home.”

There were over 500 pieces testimony submitted in opposition to the bill, and it died in committee. Even had it passed, state collective bargaining contracts supersede state statute, so it would likely be overturned in court. Gov. Lamont has indicated telework is something he would like to include in on-going contract negotiations which are currently on-going.

“Going forward, if you are scheduled to be in-office and the office is closed, you are NOT required to telework (you certainly may if you choose) and you are NOT required to use Vac/PL days to cover the workday,” A&R posted on their website. “However, if you are scheduled to telework and the office building is closed then you are required to telework as scheduled.”

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