RIGHT SPEAK: Ohio Governor Orders Government Employees to Return to Office, Following Trump's Lead; Ohio Governor Orders State Employees Back to In-Office Work 5 Days a Week Starting in March: Gov. DeWine Signs Executive Order, and other C-Virus related stories

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Ohio governor orders government employees to return to office, following Trump's lead:

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Tuesday directing state employees to return to offices by Monday, March 17.

DeWine’s executive order requires state employees to stop routinely working from home and return to work in their designated offices, with few exceptions.

"State agencies, boards, and commissions under the authority of the Governor (collectively referred to as agency or agencies) shall require all permanent employees to routinely perform their duties in the physical office or facility assigned by their appointing authority, and not routinely from a remote location," Gov. DeWine said in the executive order.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office terminating all remote work in the federal government.

"Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary," Trump said in his executive order. --->READ MORE HERE

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Ohio governor orders state employees back to in-office work 5 days a week starting in March

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered state employees back to full-time in-office work

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered state employees back to their offices full-time starting next month.

In an executive order issued Tuesday, DeWine required all permanent employees of state agencies, boards and commissions to resume five-day, in-office work weeks no later than March 17. He said the move will allow the state to best serve the public and to make best use of its remaining office space. Both are in the best interests of Ohio citizens, he wrote.

The return date set by DeWine falls almost five years to the day after the state declared an emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 9, 2020, and allowed certain employees to work remotely.

Many of those workers either returned to their offices full-time or on a hybrid basis starting in June 2021, when the emergency was lifted.

Tuesday's order requires virtually all employees to now return. It allows agencies to grant exceptions in cases where some or all of their real estate portfolios have been eliminated. Lease terminations and space reallocations that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic saved Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars, the order says. --->READ MORE HERE