The complaints are the same at construction sites, warehouses and laboratories. The allegations overlap at hospitals, prisons and other essential businesses and government agencies across the state.
New Jersey’s workers allege their employers haven’t provided enough protective gear, are making them work near sick colleagues or otherwise are flouting federal regulations meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus, according to an NJ Advance Media review of federal records.
In total, New Jersey workers filed more than 160 health and safety complaints with the federal government’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or OSHA, federal records show. The 162 individual complaints amount to 190 allegations of federal health and safety violations at New Jersey workplaces, leaving at least 16,400 workers at risk.
Taken together, the complaints cast in stark relief the daily fears and anxieties of employees deemed essential during the pandemic.
“There has been a confirmed case of COVID-19 (and) employees are still required to report to work,” an April 14 complaint from a Sicklerville grocery store read. “The employer has not disinfected the facility or put a policy into place which would (protect) employees from contracting COVID-19 during work activities and interactions.”
“Employees are exposed to other COVID-19 positive employees in the facility who are returning to work while still being symptomatic,” alleged an April 27 complaint from a Lakewood ambulance provider. “The facility is not properly being cleaned and disinfected after having COVID-19 positive patients.”
Complaints from the U.S. Postal Service are also common, with 11 in total.
“Workers were exposed to workers that were positive for COVID-19 and the facility had not be decontaminated,” read one from a postal worker in Camden.
“The letter carriers are required to use gloves however there are currently no gloves provided to or available to postal employees,” read another from a postal worker in Dover.
A spokesperson for the postal service didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Although the complaints could suggest many workplaces are ignoring federal and state health and safety guidelines, the reality is is more complicated, said Carmen Martino, an expert in the Occupational Safety and Health Act and professor at Rutgers.
There’s no enforceable OSHA standard for dealing with a deadly virus, Martino said. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued guidelines for how to handle the virus, “those are just guidelines,” Martino said.
"Without legal requirements, all an employer has to say is, “'Well, we’re trying to live up to the CDC guidelines.’ And there’s nothing OSHA can do to hold your feet to the fire,” he said.
Nationwide, OSHA has logged thousands of complaints related to COVID-19 — more than 400 per week from mid-March through May — but isn’t able to do much in response, Martino said. For the OSHA region that includes New Jersey and New York, workers have made a total of 649 complaints, at least a quarter of which came from New Jersey.
As OSHA spokesperson did not respond to questions.
Complaints alleging a lack of personal protective gear, like face masks and gloves, are most common. Throughout the pandemic, healthcare workers have reported shortages of protective equipment, as have those on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic, the state’s other public health crisis.
Complaints alleging workers aren’t allowed to social distance on the job are also rampant.
“Employees are not being provided Personal Protective Equipment such as but not limited to face mask, and gloves,” an April 20 complaint from a Burlington food distributor read. “Employer is not enforcing the 6ft social distancing requirement in the facility. The facility is not being cleaned and disinfected after employees have been confirmed COVID-19 positive.”
The OSHA complaints reviewed by NJ Advance Media don’t reveal whether or not the agency took action or levied fines in response to the allegations. While state officials have been able to order businesses closed in violation of executive orders signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, OSHA does not have that authority. Only cases marked “closed” were available for review. Open cases the agency is still investigating were not available.
Without a federal standard, some advocacy groups, including New Labor and Make the Road New Jersey, are pushing for an executive order that would give workers the ability to refuse to work if they fear for their safety during the pandemic New Labor’s executive director Lou Kimmel said. Kimmel said the proposed executive order, which the groups submitted to Murphy for consideration, also includes an expansion of paid sick days for workers and creates a conflict resolution process that workers and employers can engage in when it comes to health and safety issues.
Such a move could serve as a backstop for workers while the virus is still spreading, Martino said.
“In the absence of an emergency standard, in the absence of OSHA trying to enforce with some standard, we’re left with where we are,” he said “And it’s not good for workers.”
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J. Dale Shoemaker can be reached at jshoemaker@njadvancemedia.com.