Some Seattle city employees only need to work 2 days in person

Seattle and its largest union have a new settlement agreement that allows some city employees to work from the office two days a week.

City policy still dictates workers complete three days of at least four hours in the office.

But under the settlement — struck following a grievance from PROTEC17, the city’s largest union — if a worker’s manager approves, employees can stack two four-hour blocks in a row and turn eight hours in the office into two days.

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office downplays the language, saying workers could already craft alternative work arrangements with their managers. But the settlement’s language makes the stacking option explicit for the first time.

The push for government workers to return to the office built momentum in early 2024, as a new slate of council me