Many of the California state workers who reported to their offices Wednesday will have to keep showing up — whether or not their job is essential — under the latest guidance from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Workers have anticipated new direction from Newsom since Sunday, when he said it was coming Tuesday. They continued showing up at offices in Sacramento and the Bay Area even after local officials issued shelter-in-place directives.

A central frustration among workers has been the discretion the state has left mid-level managers to decide who may and who may not work from home under telecommuting agreements.

Newsom’s new direction, which California Department of Human Resources Director Eraina Ortega emailed to government personnel officers shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday, leaves that discretion with managers. The letter urges managers to use telecommuting where possible.

“Some departments jumped right on it and said, ‘we’ll figure it out and start doing the paperwork while you’re home,’” said Peter Flores, president of the union California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment. “Some departments have no effective telework plan in place. It’s really just the inconsistency.”

Some state attorneys still must show up in person to meet constitutional obligations, and the state attorneys managing California’s 71 lawsuits against the Trump administration still have a lot of work to do, Flores said.

“We get that we have to be flexible and we have to meet all of our duties, but I think not enough departments are being flexible and, frankly, aggressive enough in finding ways for people to telework,” he said.

The new guidance adds a twist: If state workers’ jobs are not “critical,” their department leader should try to find them a job that is essential before considering telework or administrative time off.

Who is critical?

Newsom had said the new guidance would revolve around determinations of which workers are “essential” and which are not. Tuesday’s email provided a broad overview of the types of work the administration considers “critical” but doesn’t break the determination down further.

Department leaders should identify which workers are critical to operations, and those workers should continue working under social distancing guidelines, according to the email.

All other employees who are eligible for telework should be scheduled for it, Ortega said in the email.

For workers who aren’t critical to state operations and aren’t eligible for telework, department leaders should first try to identify another job that is critical that the worker can do temporarily, according to the email. If one of those jobs isn’t available, the manager should find the worker another non-essential job that is eligible for telework.

As a last resort, managers may provide administrative time off for workers who aren’t critical and can’t be reassigned, according to the email. The time off will be provided regardless of leave balances.

Tony Owens, the vice president of bargaining for SEIU Local 1000, California state government’s largest union, said he was encouraged by the new direction. Owens said some departments seem to be taking it seriously, while he remains concerned about the ambiguity that remains.

“It’s frustrating, but I’m super encouraged with the governor’s direction and CalHR picking up the guidance from him that this is where we’re going,” Owens said. “I feel like we’re on the right track. Better late than never.”

Back to work after coronavirus cleaning

Some workers who have requested telework have been met with responses such as this, from an email Caltrans District 4 Director Tony Tavares sent out at noon Wednesday: “We are continuing to explore options to maximize telework opportunities and flexible work schedules for our employees. We are committed to keeping you informed and will share updates and information as it becomes available.”

The email tells employees to go to work on Thursday at an Oakland office when a worker had tested positive for coronavirus. The office has been cleaned, Tavares wrote.

His message directs managers to take into account local shelter-in-place directives and to give special consideration to workers over 65 and those with chronic health conditions.

The letter identifies the following broad categories of work as critical:

• Government Leadership

• Emergency Management

• Social Services/Education

• Information Technology/ Communication

• Public Safety

• Medical/Health

• Critical Infrastructure

• Food Supply

• Environmental Protection

• Public Information

Departments are required to track administrative time off and daily absenteeism and to report the data to the administration.

Some workers, such as State Lottery sales representative Paulina Vasquez, have expressed concerns that they are being exposed to the virus at work unnecessarily, and could be spreading it in the community as a result.

Vasquez, who started experiencing symptoms similar to COVID-19 symptoms on Thursday after traveling around to various consumer-facing stores during her work, said she was able to get a telework agreement with her manager after she became more insistent.

This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Can’t telework? You might get a new California state job, according to Newsom administration."