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At least six people who worked at a distribution center leased by Broadridge Financial Solutions on Long Island, New York, died of Covid-19, according to family members and information published in the press.
In early April, Intercept and the Type Investigations project reported that employees of TMG Mail Solutions, a Broadridge service provider that prints and mails financial documents, were pressured to work during the covid-19 pandemic, while others Employees already had contracted the disease. Workers also expressed concern about the delay in the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and gloves, that could make the outbreak inevitable.
Broadridge is a global financial services provider that raised approximately $ 4.4 billion last year. The production area of the distribution center is occupied by employees of the Broadridge, TMG and Randstad companies, a recruiting multinational that has an on-site office.
Four of the workers who died were Broadridge employees and two belonged to Randstad staff, according to family members of the professionals.
Randstad declined to give interviews, alleging that “employees’ personal information is considered confidential.” Broadridge cited privacy concerns for failing to report the number of employees who hired covid-19 or how many died from the virus.
“Our thoughts go out to families and colleagues at this difficult time,” said Gregg Rosenberg, a spokesman for Broadridge. “This is a terrible loss for the Broadridge community. The health and safety of our employees, their families and our community are our top priorities. We have put in place extraordinary safety measures to ensure the safety of workers before public health guidelines. “
A representative TMG said fewer than ten of its employees working at the Broadridge distribution center tested positive for the coronavirus and that none of them died.
One of Randstad’s employees, José Bonilla Flores, has worked for the company for more than a decade, according to his wife, Ana Menjivar, a TMG employee. She says Flores was a careful and tireless professional, someone who didn’t mind working seven days a week, in 12-hour shifts, which the couple met in the spring season, when powers were printed and sent. The couple from El Salvador met at the distribution center four years ago and had a 3-year-old son, Jonathan.
“We are afraid, we talk about it all the time. At the same time, we didn’t want to lose our job. “
Like many distribution center workers, Flores and Menjivar were distressed by the coronavirus and heard rumors that covid-19 was infecting the team. “We are scared, we talk about it all the time,” says Menjivar. “At the same time, we didn’t want to lose our jobs.”
Menjivar says that she and other workers received a brochure, as we have already shown, warning that “if you do not show up for work, you will not be paid and, after two days, you will be considered to have left your job.” The text also discouraged TMG employees from wearing masks or gloves, unless they were sick or had a compromised immune system.
Flores, who died at the age of 53, manifested a mild cough and loss of smell and taste, but continued to work until April 2, when he developed a fever. The next day, at Brentwood Medical Center, he was diagnosed with suspected covid-19, then tested positive for the disease. At that time, Menjivar also had symptoms of coronavirus and the same doctor instructed him to be quarantined.
With less severe symptoms, Menjivar cared for her husband for the next two weeks. He was weak and bedridden, she recalls. Flores’ health seemed stable until April 17, when he suddenly lost the speech. Menjivar called 911, but by the time paramedics arrived, he had already died of cardiac arrest caused by the virus, a common situation among covid-19 patients that has worried cardiologists.
Menjivar says that she and Flores were not given masks or gloves to wear in the distribution center and that she stopped working on April 2; she stopped doing activities on April 3. “The companies’ only concern is with production,” says Menjivar, trying to hold back the cry over the phone. “They didn’t start giving people masks until they got sick.”
Lucio Acosta, 64, a Randstad employee, also died of covid-19 in April. Her daughter Mayra Acosta says her father worked for the company for many years and tested positive for coronavirus at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, New York. A close friend and colleague of Luis Flores confirmed that Acosta worked for Randstad.
Company spokeswoman Madison Southall declined to say whether employees received PPE or not, such as masks and gloves, and said the company was “following state and local regulations, as well as guidelines from the Centers for Control and the Disease Prevention (CDC) and public health authorities regarding the provision of protective equipment to employees. “
Rosenberg, a spokesman for Broadridge, had told Intercept and Type Investigations that, in early April, the company provided gloves, masks and hand sanitizer to employees, and that a week later, it offered PPE to all workers on location. In response to new questions, however, Rosenberg said he had been misinterpreted. He said Broadridge managers distributed masks on March 26 to all workers in the production area, including TMG, Randstad and Broadridge employees, and they strongly recommended that everyone use the equipment.
Menjivar and three other employees who continue to work at TMG, all in the production area, contradict Rosenberg’s report. She says that until April 3, when her quarantine began, she received no mask, nor was she encouraged to wear the equipment. Three other TMG employees also said they had not received protective equipment until April, after the first contact in our report with Broadridge. Menjivar also said he saw a TMG employee wearing a mask brought from his home. A supervisor confronted the professional and asked him to remove the equipment, he said, and told the employee that the masks were prohibited, except on medical advice.
On behalf of TMG, attorney James Prusinowski did not respond to Menjivar’s report. He said the company cannot discuss specific issues related to employees. He also declined to say whether TMG employees received masks and gloves. “TMG is following and has followed all CDC guidelines and New York regulations related to social distance, the use of PPE and other protocols to ensure the safety of employees during this period,” he reported by email.
In addition to employees In Randstad, four Broadridge employees died of covid-19, according to the workers’ families. Among them, Juan González, a 49-year-old man with broad shoulders who worked in the company’s quality control department, says Johanna Medina, González’s sister. Also according to her, González served in the Navy and worked for more than 12 years at Broadridge. He died on April 17, the same day as Flores, after two weeks of ventilator treatment in a hospital.
Juan González working at the Broadridge Distribution Center in Brentwood, New York.
Photo: Courtesy of Johanna Medina.
“Two days before being hospitalized, he told me that someone from the place had tested positive,” says Medina. González’s sister says that after this test, some Broadridge workers had been sent home, but that he had stayed. “I told him to take care of himself.” She describes her brother, who was married, had a 17-year-old son and an older foster daughter, as a strong and healthy person who loved barbecue. “It’s still amazing that he’s gone.”
Anthony DeNoyior, a senior production manager at Broadridge, died of covid-19 two days after Gonzalez. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was 55 years old and has worked for the company since 1990. DeNoyior was also an Auxiliary Police Captain, a volunteer in Suffolk County, New York. An obituary for the Newsday newspaper reports that he was married and had two children. A campaign was created on the GoFundMe website to raise funds that the DeNoyior family will dedicate to charities.
Astrid Echenique had an administrative role at Broadridge. In charge of entering data into the company’s systems, according to his LinkedIn profile, he died of complications related to covid-19, according to family members. A close relative who preferred anonymity said one of Echenique’s family members, also a Broadridge employee, tested positive, but recovered. According to the family, Echenique had lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that makes it difficult to fight infections.
Aleymma Kuriakose was the fourth person among Broadridge employees to die from Covid-19, according to family, colleagues and news published in India West and The Tribune.
The New York State Attorney General began investigating the distribution center’s working conditions in early April, after contacting The Intercept and Type Investigations. Informed of the recent deaths, a spokesperson said the agency had received several complaints from local workers and was continuing to gather information from employees and their families.
For David Michaels, former head of Occupational Safety and Health Management (OSHA) in the Obama administration, the dangers workers face in the Covid-19 pandemic have been exacerbated by the agency’s lack of action.
“Some employers are only distributing the appropriate PPE to workers exposed to covid-19, and many still do not offer the equipment, nor do they establish social distance,” he says. “They can get rid of this because OSHA refuses to implement an emergency protocol that requires employers to protect their employees from this deadly virus.” Until the publication of this report, OSHA did not answer our questions.
At her home in Brentwood, shaken by the sudden death of her husband, Menjivar struggles to reorganize her life. “It is very difficult to be alone,” she says, as her son cries in the background. She says a Randstad representative recently called to offer their condolences and said the company will send a food basket.
Translation: Ricardo Romanoff
