The state of New York uses intimidation, threats, and deception to force employees to work at COVID-19-infected group homes for the developmentally disabled, where 552 people have died, four whistleblowers told the Washington Examiner.
Care workers say it’s standard to arrive to work at one of 7,000 group homes, only to be rotated by superiors to another location where a COVID-19 outbreak has left the facility short staffed. Any protest results in a fine, reprimand, or threat of termination, the employees said.
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“They used to call us four hours beforehand, and we figured out where they were going to send us, so we’d call in sick,” said one employee who did not want to be identified out of fear of reprisal. “But now, they know we do this and wait until we show up to work, and then they tell you, ‘You’re going to a COVID house.’ This is not what I signed up for, absolutely not. I have a baby at home and need to protect my family.”
The working conditions of employees have caught the attention of state Sen. Anthony Palumbo, who is going to push for hearings into how the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities operates. Palumbo is on the Investigations and Government Operations Committee and the ranking Republican on the Ethics and Internal Governance Committee.
Palumbo likened the treatment of employees to something out of a Cold War-era communist country.
“I’m absolutely going to address this right away and intend on calling the department to answer,” he said. “Those employees are making practically minimum wage. A lot of them make very little money, and to put them in this situation is outrageous.”
Palumbo said the hard-line attitude comes down from the top — beleaguered Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been accused of having a heartless attitude toward nursing home patients. The controversy stems from a March 2020 order from the New York Health Department requiring nursing homes to accept patients infected with COVID-19. It was rescinded May 10.
Some 15,000 residents of nursing homes and similar facilities have died of COVID-19. Despite bragging about his handling of the pandemic in a book, Cuomo has faced mounting backlash over recent revelations about his aides working to downplay the full breadth of nursing home deaths in a report last summer, not to mention a separate scandal involving allegations of sexual misconduct.
With the group homes, the OPWDD’s spokeswoman, Jennifer O’Sullivan, said infected residents are either housed at a hospital or in a temporary site away from the healthy population. The four employees told the Washington Examiner that this was untrue because they worked in COVID-19-infected facilities.
“I got sent out to a house, and they didn’t tell me it was COVID, and when I got there, I saw a big sign on the door that said, ‘We’re COVID positive.’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” said a second employee who did not want to be identified. “I complained, and then every shift, they sent me to all these COVID houses. The more you complain, the more they send you there. Then, they will put you on administrative leave.”
The employee said she has even worked in a situation in which she was locked down in a house for two weeks, sleeping on an air mattress in the living room because no spare bedrooms exist. The infected residents co-mingle with the rest of the household as there are no private restrooms or dining rooms.
Habituation specialist Tim Kennedy, who worked with residents in a classroom setting until the coronavirus hit last year, said he watched as the state made the worst decisions at every turn “that defied all common sense.”
He said COVID-19 struck his learning center a year ago, exposing about 100 people to the disease. Instead of alerting all the staff and residents to the disaster, the OPWDD kept the matter a secret.
“I compiled a list of names and called the state health department, the Albany County Health Department, and our HR, and nobody wanted to know,” Kennedy said. “I made at least 10 calls, and everyone said, ‘Oh, you have to talk to someone else.’”
Both Kennedy and care worker Jeff Monsour said a network of empty homes exists where COVID-19-positive residents could be placed, but the state opted not to use them and instead put the lives of employees and healthy residents at risk.
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The OPWDD’s Sullivan said 100 sites were authorized to provide “services” for COVID-19 patients but did not elaborate on what that entailed. She also confirmed that 10 residential sites were located around the state to assist families with COVID-19 patients, but they are currently nonoperational.
“We would be able to reauthorize them if COVID-19 spread increased and there was once again a need,” Sullivan said.
