A CDE spokesperson said that the incident is confined to the building located at 1430 N Street and employees from all floors have been instructed to work from home, unless their job duties require them to be on site.<\/p>\n
Union concerned about health, safety issues<\/p>\n
Anica Walls, president of SEIU Local 1000, said in a statement that the reports of bedbugs were \u201cdeeply concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cState workers should never be forced to work in unsafe or unsanitary conditions,\u201d Walls said. \u201cOur members\u2019 health and safety are our number one priority, and we expect the State to treat this issue with the urgency it requires.\u201d<\/p>\n
The education department building has a history of bedbugs. In 2024, the same building was the site of a possible bedbug infestation that required employees to work from home, according to KCRA<\/a>.<\/p>\n The order telling employees to work from home comes as other state departments are preparing for employees to return to offices<\/a> four days a week per Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s executive order he issued last year.<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s return-to-office order does not apply to the roughly 1,500 employees that work for CDE because the department is overseen by a different elected official: Thurmond.<\/p>\n Last year, Thurmond initially announced his agency would follow the governor\u2019s lead on the return-to-office issue. After listening to employees\u2019 opposition, he decided to maintain the department\u2019s two-day, in-office policy for the remainder of this term, which ends in January 2027. Shortly after, the governor also postponed his return-to-office order for one year.<\/p>\n A CDE spokesperson said that the department\u2019s telework policy, which allows eligible employees to work remotely three days a week, remains in place.<\/p>\n Washington, D.C., office has a bedbug problem, too<\/p>\n Sacramento isn\u2019t the only capital dealing with bug infestations.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the news organization NOTUS reported that<\/a> a Department of Agriculture building outside Washington, D.C., has told employees to work from home because bedbugs were found in the George Washington Carver Center in May.<\/p>\n The facilities were fumigated and employees returned to the building, but the bedbugs came back as well. Instead of allowing workers to telework again, department leaders reportedly told employees they would have to take personal leave if they did not want to come into the office, according to the news organization.<\/p>\n This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 12:52 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SAC_257700_HA_240722_WMelhado.JPG\")