Public employees' future was rather bleak after losing a major battle on aretirement bill during the 1959 Utah Legislature. The loss meant state employees still did not have any retirement benefits. Salary increases and cost-of-living adjustments were few and far between. When state employees were sick and unable to work, they had some health insurance, but they had to pay 100% of the insurance cost out of their own pocket. Much like today, those insurance costs were rising annually.

A man named Leonard W. McDonald, then an employee with the Utah School Employees Retirement System, pulled together a hand-picked group of seven state employees and began piecing together an organization which later became the Utah Public Employees' Association (UPEA). They met on breaks, after work, and, on one occasion, rode up and down in an elevator while they worked on the goals and ideas for the new association.

Just before noon on May 13, 1959, a small public employee group gathered together in the Utah secretary of state's office and put the finishing touches on what would be the Utah Public Employees' Association. UPEA now extends membership to all public employees throughout Utah

Basic member benefits include legislative lobbying, legal and grievance representation, conflict resolution, and discount services.