A lawsuit filed against Gov. Kevin Stitt Friday claims he does not have the power to order all full-time state employees to end remote work and return to in-office work environments.
Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court against Stitt alleging that the Republican governor’s December executive order violates the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. He said he filed the lawsuit to set a precedent and clarify for future generations that “separation of power exists and the governor needs to abide by it.”
“Simply put, the governor doesn’t have that authority. State employees work for the people of Oklahoma. They don’t work for the governor,” Fugate said during a press briefing Friday. “Making decisions about new employment conditions and authorizing expenditures for facilities and office equipment is the job of the Legislature, not the governor. His order has also caused chaos for state employees, many of whom have begun to rely on remote work.”
Stitt’s order gave state employees a Feb. 1 deadline to return to in-person operations in order to ensure “efficient government operations and accountability to taxpayers.”
“Typical big government, Democrat behavior by Rep. Fugate. Suing to let people stay home and not work? That’s insane,” Stitt said in a statement Friday. “State employees work for the taxpayer. The data is clear, employees are more productive and accountable when they are working in the office. For the good of the taxpayer, work from home is over.”
A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services said the agency is currently compiling a report of the number of hybrid or remote employees, per Stitt’s order, but the deadline to complete it is not until March 31. They did not provide the number of employees working remotely prior to the December executive order.
In March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stitt authorized remote work that “balances the safety and welfare of state employees with the critical services they provide.”
During the pandemic, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services closed over 50 offices. About 44% of the agency’s employees were working remotely in December, according to reporting by Oklahoma Watch.
In January, the Oklahoma State Department of Health estimated it would cost $400,000 to expand its office space and parking in downtown Oklahoma City in order to return employees to in-person work. This comes as the Legislature will have less dollars to appropriate this session due to budget shortfalls.
OMES, which is helping to oversee the transition, had less than 10% of its full-time employees working fully in-person, according to the agency’s budget request for the 2025 fiscal year.
Stitt’s December order offered limited exceptions including employees with non-standard working hours, roles where in-office employment is “deemed unreasonable,” and agencies facing office space constraints which would require additional expenditures for accommodating employees. Health is not one of the exceptions.
“Remote work means more time to be present with your family and active in your community. You have a sick kid at school, not a problem,” Fugate said. “Remote work means you don’t spend a fortune on childcare, that’s assuming it’s available where you live. Remote work means less wear and tear on your automobile, less money spent on gas, less expensive car insurance. Remote work also means safer working conditions for those with fragile health or family members who might have fragile health. What a choice the governor has given, say goodbye to your family, your nest egg, or your job.”
Fugate said while he made the decision to sue on his own, he gave House leadership a “courtesy heads up” that the lawsuit was being filed. The lawmaker said he’s using his own money to pay for his attorney, Richard Labarthe.
“I hope this won’t be portrayed as just a political action,” Labarthe said. “I just have to hope and pray that Oklahomans will see this, and Judge (Brent) Dishman will see this, as a purely legal question. Which, of course, is based on the Oklahoma Constitution and the separation of powers that reserves lawmaking to the Legislature.”
Labarthe, who has litigated other “public interest cases,” said the real cost to taxpayers is created by Stitt’s order as it requires state agencies to expand or obtain office spaces and pay for updates to existing spaces. He said these costs are something the Legislature must approve and cannot be simply mandated by the governor.
Labarthe said while Stitt initially gave the order initially offering remote work, that state of emergency no longer exists and the governor does not have the authority or rulemaking power to rescind this order.
He said he was meeting with Stitt’s in-house counsel following Friday’s press briefing and hopes to have a hearing with Judge Dishman and a ruling within a month.
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