John identified that he was in agreement with us that the agency was too prescriptive and arbitrary in their approach to telework schedules. The path to correcting things is for the agency to evaluate each employee's request individually according to the policy and contract.  He has arranged with the agency that there will be individual meetings with each of us, our supervisors, Katelin Prieto from ODFW HR, and Michelle Jones as the union steward.  The grievance will remain open and pending while these meetings take place so that John remains available and will oversee the process.

Just to be clear, the reason these meetings involve more than just us and our managers is so that there is transparency and accountability for these to truly be based on evaluating each individual's position duties relative to their request, and it is not disciplinary or punitive in any way even though an HR representative is present.

John will be sending a write up describing this plan and the associated timeline to complete these meetings and we will distribute that to you as soon as we receive it.

This is a VERY positive outcome in that it affirms our case and keeps DAS involved.  I know it doesn't come with the "approved, you win!" kind of statement - but it is most definitely a win.  John identified that his scope of authority is to hold the agency to following the policy and contract, which is accomplished much more effectively with an open grievance and his continued oversight.

Next Steps:

1: Reply to this email and confirm if you want to have your individual meeting scheduled or if you would like to stop in the process and remain on your current schedule.  This is your choice, no pressure either way and the decision has no impact on the overall grievance.

2: Prepare for the meeting, if you choose to have one, by identifying your requested number of days in the office per week/month/year and the associated tasks that you believe require you to be in person to perform them.  You likely already did this many times this last 6 months, but dust it off and have it ready to go.

3: Plan to attend the statewide union call next Tuesday (6/14) at noon where we will share this information with everyone.  Staff who were not named in the grievance will also be able to ask for these individual meetings, so the more of us present to help explain this process and support them the better.  We will also be answering any questions that come up, but you can email those here as well.

Thanks for all of your patience through this process, we are in the home stretch!