If California Gov. Gavin Newsom has his way, all of the state’s 225,000 full-time employees will soon work from offices at least four days a week — a phenomenon not seen since the pandemic stormed into the region in 2020, and one that is fiercely opposed by many state employees now accustomed to remote work.
In March, Newsom issued an executive order that directed all state agencies to update their telework policies, with the default that employees would work in-office for a minimum of four days a week, starting July 1.
Defending the controversial decision, the Democratic governor said that in-person work spurs efficiency, comradery and mentorship among workers. Agencies can grant workers some flexibility “on a case-by-base basis in light of individual circumstances,” the governor’s office said.
“In-person work makes us all stronger — period,” Newsom said in March. “When we work together, collaboration improves, innovation thrives and accountability increases. That means better service, better solutions and better results for Californians, while still allowing flexibility.”
Downtown Sacramento is set to see an influx of workers, to the excitement of local business boosters. But Newsom’s order also benefits Oakland, said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. A concentration of state offices is located the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building in Oakland’s downtown.
Workers are less enthused. Some state employees living in the Bay Area and elsewhere say they were “blindsided” by Newsom’s decision in March. About 33,000 state employees are based in the Bay Area.
“State workers successfully transitioned to telework during the pandemic, saving taxpayer dollars, reducing pollution and improving service delivery,” SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls said in a statement. “The governor is now attempting to undo that progress behind closed doors and with unilateral action.”
Opponents have argued that return-to-office would add even more traffic to clogged roads and spew more planet-warming emissions. This spring, foes of the governor’s plan raised thousands of dollars to erect a billboard in Sacramento depicting a laughing Newsom and the words, “Think traffic is bad now? Wait until July 1st.”
SEIU Local 1000, which represents 96,000 state government employees, filed a legal challenge to Newsom’s order on June 20 in Alameda County Superior Court. In a court filing, attorneys for the union argued that Newsom and the state Department of Human Resources broke state law and the California constitution with the executive order by failing to provide notice or collect public input.
Not all the union’s workers were eligible to work remotely, including custodians and prison educators. It was unclear how many workers were preparing to return to in-person work, and what their jobs involve. A spokesperson for the union declined to comment.
In the filing, union attorneys alleged that the order would cost the state millions of dollars to acquire office space that state departments shed during the pandemic. That would come at a time when Newsom and state lawmakers face a state budget deficit and touch choices. A spokesperson for the California Government Operations Agency didn’t provide a cost estimate to Bay Area News Group and referred a reporter to individual agencies.
The union’s lawsuit also slams the governor, calling his March order “a self-serving political move.” Newsom is widely expected to run for president in 2028. If he does, his tenure as California governor will be heavily scrutinized by opponents.
At least one other state employee union also has filed a legal challenge to return-to-office. On June 4, Professional Engineers in California Government filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court alleging that Newsom didn’t properly notify the union’s managers and supervisors.
That case is proceeding. But Newsom signaled he is willing to negotiate with state employees Monday by reaching an agreement with the engineers’ union to delay return-to-office until July 2026. That agreement applies to workers, not managers. Part of it has to be approved by state lawmakers and the union’s members.
Pandemic-era remote work policies are still in place for much of the Bay Area, or have been replaced by hybrid work arrangements that allow workers to split their time between home and the office.
Relative to some other large metros, the Bay Area has relatively high rates of remote and hybrid work, said Bellisario of the economic institute. That’s in part because work in tech — a top employer in the region — can be done remotely, he said.
In downtown Oakland, Bellisario expected the return of state workers to be a small but consequential development that could “snowball” into the return of more workers. So far, trends are moving in the wrong direction: office vacancies in downtown Oakland were up to 26.5% in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 20.5% in the same period last year, according to data released by Colliers, a Bay Area commercial real estate agency.
In May, the City of Oakland ordered its employees back to work, and then delayed implementation until early June. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie delayed a similar four-day order from April 28 to Aug. 18, according to local media reports.