Imperial County employees say coronavirus safety measures were not implemented
BRAWLEY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY)-Imperial County employees who work at the One Stop in Brawley and in El Centro say, work supervisors failed to implement coronavirus safety measures even after two county employees tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
According to the county, the two employees who tested positive had been out of work for three weeks.
On Wednesday Imperial County announced the closure of Brawley's One-Stop facility Wednesday, due to a possible coronavirus exposure with a third county employee that works at the facility.
"We were just made aware of a third one that tested positive on Friday, and we're talking about today, after five calendar days the notice was then given out to employees that their coworker had tested positive on Friday," said Flavio Grijalva, Teamsters Union Representative for Imperial County workers.
The local Teamsters Union for Imperial County workers has now issued a complaint with the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, saying Human resources and Risk Management departments failed to look after the health of county workers.
According to Grijalva, the teamsters union advocated for social distancing measures, and skeleton schedules way before coronavirus cases began hitting the valley.
We spoke to county employees at the One-Stop facility who said social services supervisors failed to implement flexible schedules for workers who needed childcare due to school closures.
One employee adding, "They said I could work from home, but since my kids would be there, they would be continuously checking my work productivity."
"We were hoping to establish a skeleton crew schedule. To have half of the workforce one day and the other half the next day. Their response has been they have an operational need to have the workers, obviously, that was more important to them then the exposure," said Grijalva.
"It's unfortunate that we are reacting to it instead of being in a preventative measure from the beginning. The county has really failed to provide a blanket of guideline for everybody," said Grijalva.
The county board of supervisors said the county has been practicing CDC standards as well as the county health department's recommendations. According to Chairman Luis Plancarte, employees at One-Stop are now operating in a skeleton schedule.
"Employees are provided with disinfectant, they're are encouraged to practice social distancing themselves so it's a joint effort. As they are provided the services that the public needs, it takes a team effort. For the employees say they are not being provided that opportunity, they are a key role in providing that distancing, " said Plancarte.
According to Plancarte, all One-Stop facilities have been closed to the public and have been operating by phone and online since Mid March.
"Those employees along with us are providing essential services to the community and we're all concerned. If at any time they feel that it is a place where they are not working safely, they are able to say, hey I need to step back because of this," said Plancarte.
Employees at the One-Stop facility in Brawley are expected to report back to work Monday.
