The Oklahoma Supreme Court has upheld Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s executive order requiring state workers to return to in-person work, though more than 8,500 state employees continue to work remotely.
The 8-1 ruling on Tuesday, Sept. 9, affirms an Oklahoma County District Court decision from March that Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, lacks legal standing to challenge Stitt’s order.
Stitt, who took office a year before the COVID-19 pandemic that accelerated remote work, cheered the ruling.
“Rep. Fugate spent months trying to stand in the way of common sense,” Stitt said Wednesday, Sept. 10. “Taxpayers deserve to know their public servants are back at work, delivering the services they pay for and not hiding behind Zoom calls.”
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In a news release, the governor’s office touted that the state Supreme Court had “backed” Stitt’s executive order.
Fugate called the release “goofy,” adding that the court had ruled only that he, as a state legislator, was not the appropriate person to challenge the executive order.
“Reading is fundamental,” Fugate said. “I highly recommend it.”
In December, Stitt ordered all state workers to return to their offices and places of employment, saying the move was needed to “hold stragglers accountable.”
Fugate sued Stitt two months later, alleging the governor did not have the authority to issue such an order because he claimed it violated the Oklahoma Constitution. He contended that the Legislature should decide if and when state worker return to the office.
In March, Oklahoma County District Judge Brent Dishman ruled that Fugate had no standing to file the lawsuit. Dishman noted he could only find one past case in which an individual legislator had filed a lawsuit against an Oklahoma governor. Dishman said “it would cause chaos” if individual legislators routinely took a governor to court whenever there was a disagreement.
Fugate’s attorney, Richard Labarthe, appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
After Tuesday’s decision by the state’s highest civil court, Stitt said the ruling “makes it clear that a partisan lawsuit will not stop us from holding state government accountable to Oklahomans.”
How many Oklahoma state employees work from home?
As of Aug. 1, at least 8,590 state employees were working remotely under exceptions spelled out in the executive order. Those exceptions cover state employees with non-standard work hours such as evenings and weekends; roles where working in-office is unreasonable; and agencies who lack enough office space for employees.
Of the nearly 8,600 remote state employees, 70% work in agencies at full capacity, meaning new or additional office spaces would have to be acquired at additional costs.
Data from the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services shows the state has about 31,800 full-time employees.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Supreme Court upholds Stitt’s return to office order