Somehow, we have a hunch that the state of Oregon’s remote work policy is going to change.

Clue No. 1: There’s bipartisan interest in looking at it. State Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, was the first state official we heard announce he wanted it to change. Senate Democrats are apparently concerned, too.

Clue No. 2: You don’t have to poke the issue very hard to understand it and perhaps feel people are being wronged. For some of you, it may be the state employees. For others, it may be Oregon taxpayers. What is the right balance to make remote work work right for the employee, the agency and taxpayers?

State HR Policy 50.050.01 went into effect on Dec. 1, 2021. It was in part a reaction to the pandemic. Basically “Oregon state government encourages working remotely where it is a viable option that benefits both the employee and the agency.”

The Willamette Week revealed another example recently that gets to the heart of the issue. State Treasurer Tobias Read’s office wants all his workers to come into the office once a quarter. What surely gets some employees irked is that they have to pay their own travel expenses when they come in.

If workers are classified as full-time remote employees, the state HR policy says it means they can do 100% of their work remotely. They don’t need to come in. They may still be required to come into the central office, and if they do, employees “who work under the full-time remote work model must be reimbursed by the agency for travel to and from the central workplace.”

If workers are classified as hybrid, it means that they essentially work at an alternative location and in the office. They don’t get travel expenses paid for their travel to and from the central workplace.

Service Employees International Union 503 Local 170 represents some 105 employees in the department. A member of SEIU filed a grievance. He lives in Texas. It would cost him thousands of dollars a year to travel back to Oregon and expose him to “COVID risk.” SEIU says there is no business reason for the requirement to return to Oregon. It is arbitrary.

Who is right? Should Oregon taxpayers be paying the bill for employees like this one in Texas to travel back to Oregon? Is it wrong to switch state employees with remote status to hybrid? How should the state resolve it? Should it grandfather in some employees and have a new policy going forward?

Whatever happens in that dispute, you may want to reach out to your legislator and tell them what you think the state policy should be.