Safety Report: Covid-19 OSHA Complaint, Peterson Farms Inc., 3104 W Baseline Rd, SHELBY, MI, 49455, USA

3104 West Baseline Road, Shelby, 49455 Michigan, United States

Regarding preventative and protective Covid-19 measures, the employer has failed to provide a safe working environment as follows: 1. Employees are concerned regarding the employer's reckless lack of response to workers' positive Covid-19 tests. Numerous employees reportedly contracted Covid-19 in the early months of 2020. The employer failed to disclose to other workers that the virus was present, resulting in a delay in enacting preventative and protective measures against Covid-19. Accordingly, employees have continued to test positive for the virus throughout the subsequent months. Employees only became aware of the presence of Covid-19 by word of mouth, rather than through a proactive announcement made by employer. As a result, workers were unable to adequately quarantine and protect themselves until it was too late. 2. Employees are concerned that the employer maintains a practice of preventing workers from seeking medical attention for suspected eases of Covid-19. In May 2020, employees began feeling unwell and asked their supervisors for time off to go to the hospital for Covid-19 testing. The requests were refused and the employees were required to continue working. Only later during the day when the employees reported trouble breathing were they finally allowed leave and get tested. The employees tested positive for Covid-19 and were instructed by the doctor to quarantine for fourteen days. 3. Employees were pressured to return to work prematurely, even after being discharged from the hospital only days before. When the workers attempted to return to work, they were met with an unduly delayed process. They reported to the human resources office where they were asked to complete a symptom questionnaire, have their temperature checked, and present a doctor's note stating they were fit to work. The worker was then instructed to wait while HR determined eligibility to begin working that day, This determination process took more than an hour and the workers were forced to wait without pay and decided to return home after an hour of no response. Further, the workers observed that only those who had tested positive for Covid-19 were required to wear masks upon return to work and were the only ones being asked to complete the questionnaire, which threatened them with firing should they refuse to wear their mask while working. Employees were required to wear a mask for fourteen days after recovering from Covid-19 while others, who had not returned from quarantine or otherwise tested positive for the virus, were not required to wear a mask at any point. 4. The employer failed to maintain safe distance between employees. Employees observed this while working within the warehouse where they frequently worked closely together. Employees also observed that social distancing was not enforced in hallways or bathrooms, where multiple people could be forced to be within close contact of each other. Employees also observed others who were not utilizing proper hand-washing protocols.


Source: Osha.gov | Receipt Date: 2020-07-20