Board rules for MD employees’ union on telework complaint

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The Maryland Public Employee Relations Board ruled Wednesday in favor of the state employees’ union regarding withheld information on telework.

“[The decision] affirms that the state can’t stonewall us; it affirms that the state has to effectively and affirmatively bargain …” said Stuart Katzenberg, director of collective bargaining and growth for the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. 

According to a document from the board, AFSCME requested information from the Maryland Department of Budget and Management regarding updated telework information for several of its bargaining units. The union argued this information was relevant to the negotiation, administration and enforcement of telework rights for its members.

On Dec. 12, the department said it would not provide a list of individual employees and their telework status. 

In response, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge on Dec. 23, one in a series against Gov. Wes Moore‘s administration that month. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In a Jan. 9 response to the charge, the Department of Budget and Management stated that it “did not maintain current telework designations for each individual employee in a centralized record, that it had provided classification-level telework eligibility information, and that it was not required to create new records in response to AFSCME’s request.”

The employee relations board, which oversees collective bargaining for state employees, investigated. It found that there was probable cause to support AFSCME’s allegation that the department failed to promptly and adequately respond to the request, in violation of state law, as well as that it interfered with protected rights by stating that telework arrangements are a management right. 

In Thursday’s ruling, the board stated that the union had a right to the information because it’s relevant to the administration and negotiation of an agreement. The ruling also said that the Department of Budget and Management was in violation of Maryland code by refusing to provide it.

The department has been ordered to share the telework information within 14 days. Katzenberg said AFSCME and the state can negotiate telework policies as soon as they get it. The union and Moore’s administration will meet to negotiate a new three-year contract in the fall.

“We won on all the charges for which we filed around telework,” Katzenberg said. “We’re waiting for a number of other cases; we feel positive about this decision and are happy that the [board] ruled in AFSCME’s favor.”

At a December news conference, Patrick Moran, president of the Maryland chapter of the union, said the unfair labor practice charges the union filed against the state “run the gamut” of agencies and concerns faced by his members, “from issues like shift differentials to telework to military leave.”