DCFAS - Department-Wide Telework Policy
On October 28, 2026, your UPE bargaining team met again with the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services (DCFAS) regarding management's proposal to increase the minimum in-office requirement from two to three days per week. UPE presented employee survey results highlighting opposition to the proposed reduction and concerns about work-life balance. Despite substantial disagreement, UPE maintained its position, requested additional information, and secured another opportunity to meet and confer.
UPE questioned the proposed implementation date and the impact on employees working standard five-day, 4/10, and 9/80 schedules. Management did not provide an implementation date but agreed to provide additional workforce information. UPE remains particularly concerned about employees currently authorized to telework three days per week and continues to challenge a reduction affecting programs with different operational needs.
UPE also questioned why DCFAS has not conducted a comprehensive evaluation of existing telework arrangements. Sacramento County's telework policy identifies productivity, work quality, supervisory responsiveness, sick leave usage, commuting reductions, and operational flexibility as relevant measures. Management has not demonstrated that employee productivity or work quality has suffered under existing arrangements. When UPE requested a broader evaluation, management declined.
UPE finds this response troubling. The Department has cited concerns about training, communication, and employee access to supervisors, yet has not established that reducing telework will resolve those concerns or identified what corrective measures have been attempted. These issues warrant improvements in supervision and training, not an automatic reduction in employee flexibility.
UPE also proposed incorporating the County's existing guidance on managing teleworking employees into the revised policy. This guidance addresses supervisory expectations, performance management, communication, and accountability. Management was reluctant to include these provisions. UPE maintains that the Department should strengthen supervisory accountability rather than shift the consequences of management deficiencies onto frontline employees.
UPE has not agreed to the proposed reduction. We will continue pursuing the requested information, challenging the Department's justification, and advocating for less disruptive alternatives that preserve established telework arrangements.
Our members deserve more than assurances that a policy change will improve operations. They deserve evidence that the change is necessary, accountability from management, and meaningful consideration of their working conditions.
UPE thanks bargaining unit representatives Deanna Green, Elyse Avila, Zackary Kollross, and Sondra Peters for their participation and continued advocacy on behalf of their coworkers.
