On August 13, 2025, United Public Employees (UPE) met with the Sacramento Superior Courts to discuss a new proposed program called Voluntary Time Off, or VTO. This program would allow employees to voluntarily take unpaid time off during designated periods around the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays.
While the Court presented this as a cost-saving measure that employees could choose to participate in, UPE raised serious concerns during the meeting. One of our key concerns is how VTO could affect vacation scheduling. Under the Court’s proposal, VTO would now be considered when management decides who gets approved for vacation from the vacation denial list. This means that if you previously applied for vacation and were listed as first denied, your vacation could still be denied later due to people on VTO. In other words, vacation requests could be rejected—not because of actual workload or staffing—but because others were approved for unpaid time off under this new program.
UPE does not believe that VTO should impact vacation requests. Employees who are first denied vacation should not lose the opportunity to be approved later just because new unpaid VTO requests are submitted. This would create an unfair system where vacation time that employees have earned could be pushed aside by a new, unpaid program that was never part of the original scheduling process.
For these reasons, UPE clearly stated to the Court that we do not agree with the current VTO proposal. We informed the Court that if they want to implement this type of program, it must be addressed during formal negotiations. UPE will continue to advocate for fairness and transparency.
Please stay tuned for more updates. Your voice and support matter, and we remain committed to protecting your rights at work.
UPE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE COT GOVERNING BOARD, SHAWN BOXER, NANCY WALLACE, TAMMI BOXER, ANDREA HOWARD, AND LIZ TEKLINSKY FOR THEIR ADVOCACY AND SUPPORT
