Judge upholds Parker’s return-to-office mandate. Philly city workers must be in person full-time starting Monday

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A Philadelphia judge upheld Mayor Cherelle Parker’s return to office mandate Friday.

Judge Sierra Thomas-Street’s ruling against the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which filed a lawsuit last week looking to halt the return-to-office edict, affects thousands of unionized city workers. Thomas-Street handed down the ruling early Friday evening during a hearing at city hall.

AFSCME represents about 3,700 administrative, professional and technical assistance employees working for the city of Philadelphia.

“We’re very disappointed with the judges decision. We’re disappointed that she didn’t see the harm that this is going to cause our members,” said April Gigetts, president of AFSCME District Council 47. “It’s the middle of the summer. People are scrambling trying to find child care, trying to find summer camps.”

AFSCME asserts that the city needs to honor the contract and negotiate with the union before making changes to its remote work policy. The city has already negotiated about alternative work schedules in the past. AFSCME’s contract expired on June 30 but was extended for another month to continue bargaining.

Gigetts said the city hasn’t provided much information to employees around “just in time” day care and elder care.

“So we’re asking the judge to stop the action so we can have our grievance heard,” she said, prior to the hearing.

During the hearing, a city newsletter to employees was mentioned with a third-party provider of emergency care as an optional enrollment, but it was unclear if that would be subsidized by the city.

Mayor Cherelle Parker said earlier this week she was dedicated to bringing all 26,000 city employees back into the office, five days a week, and she isn’t changing her mind.

She said the goal is threefold: to allow the taxpayers to see municipal workers on the job, improve the downtown economy and encourage private sector employers to follow her lead.

That decision is hampering hiring efforts, said David Wilson, AFSCME Local 2187 president.

“I’m getting calls right now from department heads saying ‘Hey, how can we go ahead and work through this new policy to attract competent individuals to work in some of these roles because they are looking for hybrid scheduling?’” Wilson said.

More than a dozen city workers testified for nearly five hours on Thursday sharing their experiences with remote work. Many worried that health issues, which prevent them from working full-time in the office, were being ignored by the Parker administration. They also alleged that reasonable accommodations for disabilities were denied.

Alexis Morgan, an analyst with the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services, said she’s been working remotely four days a week and one day in the office for years. She has a chronic medical condition that requires transfusions and she deals with flare ups.

Morgan applied for an accommodation so she can continue working remotely and expects to use the federal Family Medical Leave Act for unpaid time off for her to continue medical treatments with a full-time in office schedule.

Attorneys for the Parker administration argue that only work hours, not work location are subject to the collective bargaining agreement.

“Work location is a matter of managerial prerogative that the City is not required to bargain with any of its bargaining unions,” city officials said.

Attorneys for the city also object to the union’s request to not allow the city to appeal a decision to a higher court.

Chief administrative officer Camille Duchaussee said the city respects the judge’s decision.

“We are very thankful to our city’s workforce and our law department,” Duchaussee said. “We look forward to making good on the promises made by the administration.”

AFSCME wanted the judge Thomas-Street to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the city from enforcing the return to office policy at least until two different legal proceedings are completed, which could take months.

The union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which also requires a hearing with a neutral party to resolve the issue.

There’s also a grievance filed by the union against the city over the return-to-work mandate, which requires an arbitrator to negotiate a solution, but those meetings haven’t happened yet.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro created a tiered system for the return to office plan for state workers. About 75% of state workers already report to the office full-time. Last year, Gov. Shapiro ordered 2,300 senior managers, cabinet officials and governor’s office employees to work a hybrid schedule, three days a week in person and two days remotely. Another 7,600 fully remote workers in the office of administration must now work in the office at least once a month.

At the time, Gov. Shapiro described the plan as “a balanced approach to remote work that capitalizes on the benefits for recruitment, flexibility, and morale, while maintaining opportunities for collaboration, relationship-building, mentorship, culture, and engagement that happen most effectively at a workplace with colleagues.”

Remote work policies vary in other cities

In Atlanta and San Antonio, remote work policies differ by department.

In the District of Columbia, city agencies must have 50% of their office-based staff in person during regular business hours and no employees are working remotely more than one day each week.

The city of Chicago requires workers in the office at least four days a week, with one remote day. Baltimore city allows two days a week remote work and three days in the office.

New York City’s remote work policy allows two days at home and three days in the office and is piloting a four-day work week.

The city of Austin requires a hybrid schedule that workers are in the office 50% of the time over a two week period and the local AFSCME chapter is pushing to keep the remote option.