They provide daily living assistance to people with developmental disabilities.

" We power through, and stay positive for each other..."

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities, where medically vulnerable people often live in close quarters, have been hit extremely hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Both residents and workers in these facilities are at high risk, and the latter carry the additional worry of getting sick on the job, or bringing the virus home with them.

This part-time worker at Richmond Community Services in Westchester, NY reached out on April 18; the company has been posting weekly video updates on its coronavirus response, and has suspended outside visits to residents, but the situation remains dire. This worker asked to be anonymized because they say the company has a habit of retaliating against workers. 

This is their story.

I've been a direct support professional at Richmond Community Services for the past six years, and provide daily living assistance to people with special disabilities. Some are in need of more support than others.

I'm still working. Some of our workers are put on administrative leave for voicing concerns over the procedures our company takes to protect the workers from Covid-19 transmissions. My employer has taken measures to stifle the amount of PTO and sick days one can take to combat staff shortages, and mounting pressure to quit over being laid off to staff who are scared to transmit virus to family members.  

As a current worker, we have daily protocol changes within our policy and procedures at Richmond. Many of these changes are not known to our union, UNITE HERE 919, or agreed upon. They are supported by the simple legal language within the union contract allowing Richmond to make rapid changes and without proper notice. We aren't allowed to take more than one (1) PTO day per pay period, and we must return with a doctor's note providing clearance in order to come back to work after three consecutive sick days. Our CEO has blamed the workers for giving the individuals Covid-19, and thus declined giving hazard pay to any workers, including those that are in direct contact with Covid-positive patients. 

Our union representative works day in and out to stay apprised of all situations within the company. We have worked together to form a more cohesive unified union in order to receive better treatment from management. We power through, and stay positive for each other. 

Upon our asking—then demanding—hazard pay, our CEO and strategic planning advisors decided providing meals to the staff and individuals would be more beneficial. We are served lunch and dinner through our main facility who cook, prepare and deliver meals to residential homes. The day program for the company is closed, and the staff are now seeded within residential homes. At times, there can be up to 25 people in one home. 

Very soon after this protocol was implemented, the number of Covid-19 occurrences soared. Management withheld quite a bit of information from the workers about positive cases ,and many were not allowed to go home to self-quarantine due to direct contact. Those who went home to self-quarantine were put on administrative leave. With the increasing number of workers in each home, many became more scared for their own families. PPE were given to each home, and the homes with COVID positive cases were given special PPE. The residents and workers must stay indoors and are not allowed any outside visitors. 

Through this experience, I have become more aware of the injustices and ill treatment of my fellow workers and that extends to the outside world. Many minorities and large urban groups are severely impacted. The recent events pushed me to take the time to write to our Senators and become more involved in the fight for equality for impoverished and unrepresented people within the community. 

Our company has restricted our liberties and our demands have fallen on deaf ears within management. Our suggestions for improvement go unnoticed, and our needs are not always met; sometimes our management retaliates instead of negotiating.

You can support us by alerting any media of the injustices and mistreatment of the workers at Richmond Community Services.