Over the last two weeks, Oregonians have been subject to a record number of lay-offs due to the coronavirus, and many people who still have their jobs face working conditions that increase their risk of contracting COVID-19. That's resulted in a surge employee complaints to agencies in charge of protecting workers.
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) typically receives around 40 complaints a week, according to Michael Wood, OSHA’s top administrator. Wood said that in the last two weeks, his agency has received at least 2,206 verified complaints related to the coronavirus, and even more that OSHA hasn’t yet had a chance to assess.
According to OSHA records obtained by the Mercury through a public records request, those complaints come from employees at fast food restaurants, hospitals, construction contractors, grocery stores, cannabis dispensaries, and a range of other businesses.
Wood said the complaints also “run the gamut about all the various concerns the public could have” — including workers who say their employers aren’t enforcing a six-foot social distancing rule, or that they have a lack of cleaning products. Some workers reported that non-essential businesses have stayed open without allowing employees to work from home, flouting Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order.
Wood said that OSHA is replacing it's on-site visits with phone calls to employers that have been reported. Often, he said, a simple phone call from OSHA is enough to get a business to change course.
“We’ve had some businesses that probably knew they were supposed to be closed, and as soon as we contact them, they say, ‘Okay, we’ll close,’” he said. “And then we swing by and verify that.”
But OSHA often relies on in-person, surprise inspections when investigating a worker complaint—a difficult thing to pull off while following social distancing guidelines. Good said OSHA has made “a number of changes designed to minimize contact,” such as conducting interviews with employers outside, and showing OSHA credentials and other paperwork rather than handing it to people.
It typically takes between 5 and 7 weeks between when OSHA begins investigating a worker complaint and when it issues a citation to a business that is found to be violating safe workplace policy.
Good said OSHA has not yet issued citations for any COVID-19 complaints, but is trying to "accelerate" the process because of the urgent need to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In Oregon, OSHA is responsible for enforcing workplace safety, while the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) oversees fair labor practices, including wage laws. Jenny Smith, a spokesperson for BOLI, said that the agency didn’t yet have hard numbers for how many official complaints it’s received from workers laid-off because of COVID-19. But she did say BOLI’s gotten “thousands of calls from workers and employers asking questions, making inquiries, and requesting guidance during this pandemic.”
As Oregon businesses large and small have been forced to temporarily close and lay off workers because of the economic impact of COVID-19, many employees have raised concerns about not receiving their wages on time, or not receiving their paid time off or sick time with their final paychecks. Smith said that while Oregon law requires workplaces to pay employees their final paycheck promptly, there’s no hard requirement to pay out accrued time off.
“But if an employer has a policy of paying it out, they need to continue to do that,” she added.
Both Smith and Wood said that things are in flux at their agencies, as staffers adjust to working remotely and process more complaints and questions than usual. Wood said that OSHA was willing to be lenient with employers who genuinely don’t understand the new guidelines, but that all businesses need to do their part to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
“If you’re doing things the same way you did it a month or two ago, you’re doing it wrong,” he said.
