About one-fourth of Oklahoma’s state employees retained flexible work arrangements after Gov. Kevin Stitt’s December return-to-office executive order. Nearly 8,000 out of 26,000 employees qualified for exceptions due to insufficient office space, nonstandard hours, or fieldwork. Many agencies, including the Department of Human Services and Environmental Quality, maintained hybrid or remote schedules to manage space and operational challenges. The order sparked confusion, with critics highlighting its impact on service delivery and employee retention. Some agencies reported difficulties fully complying due to logistics like parking constraints. A lawsuit against the order was dismissed but remains under appeal. The state had not previously tracked employee work locations in detail.
by Paul Monies, Oklahoma Watch May 21, 2025
About one-fourth of Oklahoma’s state employees have maintained their employment flexibility after Gov. Kevin Stitt issued a return-to-office executive order in December.
Almost 8,000 state employees out of the 26,000 covered in a report for the first quarter came under one of several exceptions to the return-to-office mandate. Most of those employees were at agencies that didn’t have the office space to accommodate a full return to the office.
Stitt directed the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to compile agency responses to the executive order, although more than 50 agencies failed to respond. Almost 26,000 state employees out of 31,600 were covered in the first quarter report.
The governor’s office was listed among the agencies not responding to the OMES report, but spokeswoman Abegail Cave said all the governor’s staff work in the office.
“The governor wants all state employees back in the office to serve Oklahomans well,” Cave said.
Stitt’s executive order had three exceptions to the policy: employees whose hours are outside normal business hours; employees who already work in the field; and when new or additional office space would have to be acquired at additional cost.
The Oklahoma Public Employees Association said Stitt’s executive order created widespread confusion among state employees when it was issued. Many were surprised because Stitt had touted the benefits of a flexible work environment during the pandemic and the state spent millions in federal COVID-19 relief funds to update remote-work technology.
“A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work for the wide range of services provided by our diverse state agencies,” OPEA said in a written statement. “When state employee positions are eliminated, we risk losing essential services — including frontline workers who support our most vulnerable citizens.”
The state had not previously compiled a comprehensive list of agency employees by their work location and arrangement, making it difficult to compare what happened at most agencies in response to Stitt’s policy.
Still, some agencies provided telework information in budget planning documents. OMES had 30% of its employees working remotely in fiscal year 2024, while another 60% were in a hybrid work arrangement. The first quarter 2025 report showed 37% of OMES’ 960 employees were granted an exception from the return-to-office executive order.
The state’s largest agency, the Department of Human Services, reported 82% of its 6,048 employees were on some type of hybrid or telework arrangement. During the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, DHS closed dozens of county offices or found other agency office space for its employees to use.
“Many of our staff work directly in the field, serving Oklahomans rather than operating from a traditional office setting each day,” DHS spokeswoman Carrie Snodgrass said. “We continue to evaluate office space to ensure a comfortable and efficient work environment for our employees, as well as the necessary accommodations to best serve our clients. As we implement the executive order, we are making real-time adjustments to meet operational needs while supporting our workforce.”
In its response to OMES, the Department of Environmental Quality asked to continue a hybrid work policy revised by the agency in 2022. DEQ said a full return to work was complicated by the demolition of an aging parking garage next to its downtown Oklahoma City headquarters. The agency leased temporary parking during demolition and construction of a new parking garage, but it wasn’t feasible to expand those parking options with a full return-to-office policy. The new parking garage is expected to be finished by April 2026.
“By allowing these staff members to work a partial telework schedule, it is estimated that the agency will save approximately $250,000 during the demolition and construction activities,” Robert Singletary, DEQ Executive Director, wrote in a Jan. 3 letter to OMES. “Given the agency’s current budget constraints and the temporary nature of this challenge, procuring additional parking spaces does not appear to be a prudent alternative.”
About 30% of DEQ’s 527 full-time employees are on a hybrid or remote work arrangement, according to the first quarter report.
When he took office in January 2023, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters issued a return-to-office policy for the State Department of Education. The agency’s first quarter report to OMES showed 51 of the agency’s 414 employees, or 12%, were granted exceptions to Stitt’s executive order.
In a statement, Walters said the agency has regional representatives across the state to maintain connections to local communities.
“The Oklahoma Department of Education was the first agency in the state to end work-from-home arrangements,” Walters said in the written statement. “Our priority is to be fully present for the students and communities we serve. Having our team on-site strengthens collaboration and accountability.”
The Oklahoma Tax Commission said agency directors and public-facing employees work in the office. But the agency doesn’t have enough space to accommodate a full return-to-office policy for its 600 employees since its move to the Strata Tower in downtown Oklahoma City. That move consolidated three Oklahoma City office locations and reduced its office footprint by 100,000 square feet.
“New or additional space, including parking, would have to be acquired at an additional cost to the OTC to have sufficient physical space to perform their duties 100% of the time in office,” Executive Director Doug Linehan wrote in a January letter to OMES.
Like their counterparts in the private sector, hybrid or remote work has been popular among state employees. An OMES survey published last year, before the executive order, found widespread satisfaction with telework or hybrid work. It had responses from 16,000 employees across 111 agencies.
Rep. Cyndi Munson, the House Democratic leader, said allowing widespread telework flexibility was a benefit for many state employees, especially among working parents. She worried the executive order could deter prospective employees from considering state employment.
“The biggest concern when the order came out was that folks would lose their jobs,” Munson said. “We don’t want that, because we need people working in state government.” A lawsuit challenging Stitt’s executive order, brought by Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, was dismissed by an Oklahoma County district judge in March. Fugate appealed that order to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This content appears to provide a neutral, fact-based reporting of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s return-to-office executive order and the challenges state employees are facing with the policy. The article primarily presents responses from various government agencies and political figures, including statements from both the governor’s office and public employee associations, without taking a clear ideological stance. The concerns raised by the Oklahoma Public Employees Association and Rep. Cyndi Munson, along with the facts surrounding exceptions to the executive order, are presented in an even-handed manner, focusing on the implementation of the policy and its effects on employees.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-20 13:21:00
Crude oil drivers for Sunoco Logistics Partners in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico have successfully removed United Steelworkers (USW) union representation. Over 420 drivers from 30 Sunoco Logistics facilities are now free from union control, following a petition led by Jay Fifer. Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, as right-to-work states, enabled the removal, while New Mexico lacks similar protections. This victory follows a 2019 National Labor Relations Board ruling allowing workers to petition for union decertification. The National Right to Work Foundation has supported similar efforts in other states, highlighting growing worker interest in union removal.
(The Center Square) – Crude oil drivers for Sunoco Logistics Partners have successfully removed United Steelworkers union bosses from their place of employment in four states.
As a result, more than 420 oil transportation drivers from roughly 30 Sunoco Logistics facilities in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico are free from union control.
Sunoco LP is a leading energy infrastructure and fuel distributor operating in over 40 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Europe and Mexico. Its general partner is owned by Energy Transfer LP, which operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the U.S., including more than 130,000 miles of pipeline and associated energy infrastructure.
Removing USW from Sunoco LP came after Texas resident and oil transport driver Jay Fifer gathered signatures from the majority of his coworkers to terminate union representation.
Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana are right to work states, which prohibit unions from enforcing contracts that require employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. New Mexico workers don’t have the same protections and can be forced to pay union dues or be fired. Despite this, under federal law in right to work and non-right to work states, union officials are allowed to impose “representation” on workers in a work unit, regardless if they want to be represented by the union.
After a landmark 2019 National Labor Relations Board decision in a case won by the National Right to Work Foundation, workers who want to remove union officials from their place of employment can do so by submitting a majority-backed petition asking their employer to stop recognizing the union. The NLRB enforces federal labor law in the private sector and administers votes to install or remove unions from workplaces.
In this case, a Texan led the effort to petition USW removal, which the NLRB recognized this month. As a result, USW union officials are stripped of their monopoly bargaining power and can no longer enforce bargaining obligations against Sunoco LP.
“I’m glad that my coworkers and I were able to band together to force this Steelworkers union out,” Fifer said. “The union was not a positive force in our workplace, and we are better off without it. I am lucky to live in the Right to Work state of Texas where I could at least choose to stop sending my money to this union while it was still in power, but unfortunately the same can’t be said for all of my fellow drivers.”
“Rank-and-file workers across the country like Mr. Fifer and his fellow drivers don’t enjoy the same structural and legal advantages that union officials do under American labor law. That makes it all the more impressive that he and his colleagues were able to gather signatures across a huge work unit and break free of the Steelworkers union’s control,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. “American workers’ increasing interest in escaping union ‘representation’ should serve as a reminder to the Trump Administration that it should pursue labor policy that enhances workers’ freedom to escape unwanted union affiliation.”
The separation in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico comes after the NRWF has helped workers in other states remove USW union bosses from their places of employment. They include healthcare workers at the Mayo Clinic in Austin, Minn.; metal workers at Latrobe Specialty Metals Company in Venango County, Penn.; chemical employees at GEO Specialty Chemicals in Louisiana and Gold Bond Building Products in New Jersey, all with NRWF assistance.
“Workers across the country are increasingly exercising their right to vote out union officials they oppose, and we at the Foundation are happy to aid them,” Mix has argued.
Worker-filed petitions seeking union decertification votes have increased by more than 50% over the past five years, according to NLRB data.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Right-Leaning
The article predominantly frames the removal of union representation in a positive light, emphasizing workers’ freedom to escape union control and highlighting the benefits of “Right to Work” laws. The language used portrays union leadership negatively (e.g., describing the union as “not a positive force” and “union bosses”), while praising efforts led by individuals and organizations that oppose union power, such as the National Right to Work Foundation. The framing favors pro-business, anti-union perspectives consistent with right-leaning political ideology, especially given the focus on workers’ choice to decertify unions and the critique of union authority. Although it primarily reports actions taken by the parties involved, the tone and selective highlighting of certain viewpoints suggest more than neutral reporting and lean toward a viewpoint that favors limiting union influence.
SUMMARY: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt recently signed House Bill 1732, which allows schools to livestream all athletic activities, including playoffs, without restrictions from exclusive broadcast agreements held by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) or the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). This law benefits local broadcasters and fans by providing access to games, including state tournaments, without requiring a paid subscription. Davis High School’s W\.O.L.F. Media class, which previously faced limitations in broadcasting playoff games, celebrated the law’s passage, enabling them to continue providing coverage without interference. The bill received unanimous support in the legislature.
SUMMARY: A new law, the Private Property Protection Act, signed by Governor Kevin Stitt, allows Oklahomans to legally flash or point a gun at someone they believe may threaten their property without facing criminal charges. The law clarifies the application of the Castle Doctrine, extending the right of self-defense to the edge of one’s property. While supporters argue it provides clarity for the court system, opponents, including Democratic Representative Michelle McCain, express concerns about potential misuse and safety risks. Critics worry about the law’s broader implications, especially in light of incidents where innocent people were harmed.
New law makes it legal to point gun to defend property
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