Evers would nix a return-to-work requirement for state employees

Gov. Tony Evers won’t sign the next state budget if it requires state workers to return to the office, he said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Evers told WISN-TV that he doesn’t support a plan floated by Republicans that would require government employees to fully return to in-person work setups.

“We went out of our way … during the pandemic and post-pandemic, to hire people in Rhinelander and all sorts of different places in the state because we knew they can work from home or work from an office that’s remote from Madison,” Evers said.

That’s in contradiction to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ support for the idea. The GOP leader argued that state workers are less productive when they work from home.

“I think we need to look at how state government functions,” Vos argued in an earlier interview with WISN-TV. “And one of the reasons that we have not had the services we want to deliver is because a lot of employees aren’t working or they’re working only from home and not doing it very well with little supervision. So I would love for us to be able to say if we’re going to be giving more money to agencies, we need to make sure we’re actually performing.”

In Sunday’s interview, Evers argued that requiring state workers to come to an office would discriminate against people who don’t live near Madison or Milwaukee.

“I think it’s important for the state to be open to having people working from home, especially in parts of the state that we haven’t had a chance,” Evers said.

The state budget process will commence early next year, with Evers introducing his proposal at a meeting of the state Legislature in late February or early March. Republicans, who control the Legislature, are expected to nix many of his requests and build their own document.

Evers has partial veto power over that final document, which he has exercised in the past to remove certain line items, such as a tax cut in the most recent budget that he argued was unfair to the middle class. He could do the same for a return-to-work requirement or other GOP priorities he disagrees with.