Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger made clear their views on ways to minimize risky behavior during the pandemic.
Residents are “safer at home,” both have repeatedly said at coronavirus briefings since March.
But some of their own employees say supervisors have been unable to keep them safe.
The two supervisors, employees say, have required them for weeks to work in unsafe conditions in the county administration building and district field offices, and ignored their pleas to allow them to work from home. The complaints came in an anonymous letter from members of both teams that was distributed to county executives and delivered to The Times.
The authors of the letter, who describe themselves as “many staff members of the 1st and 5th District,” state that several people who work in the County Board of Administration are “young employees who go to bars and restaurants and are at higher levels, risk of contracting and spreading the virus. ” Employees also allege that supervisors are not enforcing the guidelines of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in any of its offices.
The other three supervisors, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn, are said to have allowed all of their staff to work remotely.
“They feel entitled to require that staff report to their offices, although their work can be done remotely. It would be impossible for them to argue that we need to be in our office spaces to carry out our tasks, ”says the letter, referring to Solis and Barger.
Solis and Barger employ about 75 full-time employees including working on the eighth floor of the county Administration Center building and at their district field offices.
The anonymous letter draws unwanted attention to supervisors’ work practices as the county struggles to control an increasing rate of coronavirus infection.
Supervisors say their telecommuting policies have varied over time due to technology issues and the importance of meeting the needs of their districts. They say that some of their responsibilities involve providing essential services to residents. Barger is chairman of the board, which comes with additional administrative duties.
Solís, who served as President Obama’s job secretary from 2009 to 2013 and has been a critical critic of employers who do not protect workers, said in a statement that he takes employee comments very seriously and that he He has asked the county human resources department to “carefully review the claims in the anonymous letter related to employee safety.”
Solís said that because she is acting president, which means she will become chairman of the board in December, her office has “greater responsibilities to respond to this crisis and manage the county’s business.”
“While some of the vital services that our constituents rely on to overcome these unprecedented times can be provided through telework, most cannot,” said Solís. His staff, he said, has provided assistance at food distribution centers and helped distribute personal protective equipment in nursing homes, among other tasks related to the pandemic.
“I am proud of the efforts of my staff in some of the most affected communities in the county,” it said in the statement.
Since the letter appeared and The Times requested a response from Solís, working conditions appear to have improved, and employees now have more options for telecommuting, according to a staff member who spoke to The Times. The employee requested anonymity because employees are not authorized to speak to the media.
In an email sent earlier this week to employees, Solís chief of staff Cindy Chen wrote that employees would be allowed to return to work from July 21.
“However, we will evaluate teleworking week by week based on the emerging needs of our supervisor and maintaining the needs of our constituents and the community,” Chen wrote.
Barger, whose geographically massive district encompasses 2,807 square miles of northern Los Angeles County, said his office implemented “a modified work schedule that allows all staff to work remotely on staggered days.”
Currently, staff work remotely 50% of the time and in the office the other half. The use of telecommuting as an option for employees has “fluctuated over time” and was most recently reinstated on July 14, according to Barger’s office. This was after the employees sent their letter.
Before teleworking was restored, “the expectation was that the staff would be there,” according to Barger’s office.
Part of the problem with the transition to telecommuting was that, in March, staff started working from home but had no work laptops. According to Barger’s office, only a few staff members obtained laptops for work, and the office was told it will take six weeks to obtain laptops and docking stations for all staff who need them.
“Our staff cannot serve our communities well if they are not healthy and safe,” said Barger. “My office struck a delicate balance between ensuring the health and safety of our team and maintaining the responsible and responsive services that Los Angeles County residents deserve.”
Other supervisors have taken a different approach.
At Supervisors Kuehl and Hahn’s offices, all employees work from home and rarely enter the office. None of its field offices is open.
At the Ridley-Thomas offices, most staff work from home, and no one is required to enter. Some work from the office because it is their preference or they need help on a board meeting day. Field offices remain open.
Hahn’s director of communications, Liz Odendahl, said Hahn, who has been an advocate of teleworking, quickly moved to provide laptops to any staff if they did not have them and other materials needed to start working from home in early March.
“We have not missed a step,” Odendahl said in an email. “In addition to the staff not being able to see each other physically, our office has been running smoothly and we have been able to continue to serve our constituents remotely.”
In Kuehl’s third district, there are no physically open field offices. Rather, they all telecommute and do their homework.
These employees have done limited field work, including distributing food boxes at resident food distribution events.
“Everyone who works at those events should wear masks and gloves and physical distance,” Kuehl said in a statement. “We take the safety of all volunteers / staff very seriously at those events.”
