Work from Home Arbitration Update

MEF has taken the City of San Jose to arbitration over its unilateral change to the Flexible Workplace Program. This change forces employees with existing flexible workplace agreements to be in the office at least four days per week instead of three, without negotiating with the Union.

This is a major fight for our members. Instead of handling the case through the City Attorney’s Office as they normally would, the City has hired an outside “special law firm,” the Renee Public Law Group. This firm is known for taking on high-profile fights for cities when the stakes are high or when their legal position is questionable. MEF has submitted an information request to determine how much of the public’s money the City plans to spend on these outside lawyers to take this right away from employees rather than working with us to find a solution.

The City’s first move was to challenge the arbitrability of our grievance, claiming the case does not even belong in arbitration. We view this as an absurd argument and a delay tactic. Our position is that the grievance is clearly covered by the arbitration procedure in our contract, and now the City has the burden of proving otherwise. Unfortunately, the City has developed a pattern of raising procedural technicalities when it wants to avoid addressing the merits of a case.

Here is the current schedule:
• September 1 – City’s deadline to submit its legal brief
• September 15 – MEF’s attorneys at Beeson Tayer & Bodine will submit our response
• September 30 – City’s final rebuttal due
After that, the arbitrator will issue a ruling on the arbitrability issue, likely within a couple of weeks.

If we prevail, the case will move forward to the merits – the central question of whether the City can take away this benefit without bargaining. Our hope is that this stage can be resolved through written briefs rather than a full evidentiary hearing, which would save time. However, this will require the City to cooperate instead of using more delay tactics. We will push back on every unnecessary delay and ask the arbitrator to see them for what they are. Our goal is to get this resolved as quickly as possible, ideally before the holidays.

We also know this change has imposed significant costs on many members. MEF is gathering information on the financial impact from members so we can present it to the arbitrator and seek relief. We are collecting data on increased transportation and commute expenses, additional dependent care costs, and any other expenses directly tied to the extra required day in the office. While we cannot guarantee retroactive financial relief, we will put every documented impact on the table.

This fight is about more than remote work. It is about defending our working conditions, protecting work-life balance, and preserving our collective voice in the workplace. We will continue to update members as this case moves forward.