Cook County judges, court employees set to return to office
(The Center Square) – All Cook County judges and court employees will be required to at their “regularly assigned workspace” for the vast majority of their time on the job beginning in mid-May.
In an order signed off on by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, as of May 14, staffers must be at their desks for at least 70% of their pay period.
The order is set to take effect just three days after the national health emergency declaration is set to end, and further stipulates that as of June 4, no remote work of any kind will be allowed for the county’s roughly 2,600 workers and 400 judges.
In signing the order, Evans told reporters that he has now also launched a committee that will study a possible return to some form of remote work at a later time, adding that as of May 1, masks will also be optional in court facilities.
In the wake of the pandemic hitting and its lingering impact, court operations were gradually moved online in the spring of 2020 and since that time for the most part proceedings have been conducted by videoconference and streamed live on the court’s YouTube page.
Across the country, the federal government is set to officially end the public health emergency on May 11, some three years after the COVID-19 crisis kicked off in earnest.
Since then, healthcare leaders have developed an assortment of treatments to combat the illness and earlier this month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended older adults and people who are immunocompromised get a second, updated booster shot.
Earlier in the year, updated boosters were also made available for individuals as young as 6 months who completed the initial series.
