South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is currently being sued due to his executive order that called back all remaining state employees who were still working from home and to return back to the workplace on a full time basis. These government workers didn’t miss any paychecks during the pandemic.
After having a year working from home, what did these folks expect would happen? Of course they don’t want to come back to the workplace.
A report from WYFF , the lawsuit was filed on April 5, with the names College of Charleston employee Deborah Mihal and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of S.C. listed as the plaintiffs in the case, while McMaster and Marcia adams, the executive director of the S.C. Department of Administration were listed as the defendants.
McMaster’s order advised state agencies to “immediately expedite” the return of “non-essential” state employees to come back for in-person work.
“This was a complete course reversal from the governor’s order that non-essential state employees work remotely, which they had been doing effectively for a year,” court documents went on to say.
“The lawsuit states that Mihal is the director of disability services for the College of Charleston and has been working remotely for the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to court documents, she has been able to fulfill her responsibilities while acting as the primary caretaker for her 9-year-old son, who is enrolled in remote learning,” the report from WYFF said.
“According to the lawsuit, the order requiring her to return to the workplace by April 5 has left Mihal without options for childcare or ‘workable accommodations.’ Court documents state her husband works full-time out of the house five days a week and she has gotten no response from her outreach to the principal at her son’s school to see if she can switch him to in-person learning,” the report continued.
Typical public sector employee. Her employer has to make accommodations for her child care. Schools are being used as daycare. What do they do in the summer when schools are closed?
“Additionally, both returning to the workplace and all of her available childcare options would increase her and her family’s exposure to COVID-19,” the lawsuit reads. “Mihal scheduled her vaccination as soon as she could, and though she has an appointment, she will not be fully vaccinated before she is required to return to the workplace.”
“There is simply no emergency need, or business necessity, served by requiring nonessential employees to return to the workplace in person at this time. Non-essential state employees have been working remotely successfully for over a year,” the lawsuit proclaims.
The plaintiffs involved in the case are asking the court to stop the use of any policy or procedure that requires non-essential employees to come back for in-person work, “that is inconsistent with the responsibility to protect the safety, security, or welfare of the State.”
Sounds an awful lot like these folks are loving working from home and have no desire to ever go back to the workplace. They should offer a termination letter.
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