Orlando Airport Workers File OSHA Complaint Claiming Restaurant Operator ‘Put Us at Risk’ with Little Protection

April 9, 2020

Workers at many of Orlando International Airport’s restaurants say management kept them in the dark about what to do or how to protect themselves as coronavirus cases grew around them, infecting nearly a dozen TSA workers.

They say they weren’t told to social distance. They didn’t get adequate hand sanitizer. They weren’t given instructions on how to screen for symptoms. And, for those who were given gloves, no training was given as to whether they were required.

“At my restaurant, we had to ask over and over before they gave us hand sanitizer, said Abismael Colon, a host and server at the Outback Steakhouse. “... We take credit cards and pens and booklets from travelers all day. We heard from the news that TSA agents were getting sick, so even if the managers didn’t say anything, we knew we were in danger.”

Now, those allegations are at the heart of a complaint filed this week by 35 workers with the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration alleging that concessionaire HMSHost, which operates 27 food outlets and employs about 800 people, violated OSHA safety standards.

The complaints were brought forth by Unite Here, the union that represents 300,000 hospitality workers across the nation. Unite Here is in the process of organizing the airport’s HMSHost locations. The operator is also facing claims of discrimination.

Airport food service workers are considered a “medium” risk of exposure to the virus, and OSHA suggests they wear some combination of gloves, a gown, face masks or other equipment depending on the job.

But workers say HMSHost instead focused on removing hazards for customers, like eliminating the condiment bar at the six Starbucks locations it operates. But it didn’t provide guidance to its employees, many of whom were working in close quarters until rounds of layoffs started late last month.

“They made measures to make sure the customers were safe, but it put us at risk,” said Rosanny Tejeda, a Starbucks barista who worked at OIA until last week.

HMSHost did not respond to a request for comment.

The company says on its website that it is “continuing to communicate with our associates every day to ensure they are implementing social distancing, and recommended cleaning protocols and procedures. We have made it a priority to ensure our locations have adequate supplies to meet the CDC guidelines.”

Not so, say workers, who claim only gloves were put out for employees to use, but with no training on whether they were required or discretionary.

According to the complaint, Quamaine Tisdale, a Chick-Fil-A employee, said his manager told him gloves don’t look “professional.” Colon, the Outback employee who was later laid off on March 20, said workers at his location asked for gloves, but when they wore them the general manager allegedly said “it wouldn’t so anything to protect you from getting anything,” and “if you are going to get it you are going to get it, period.”

Access to hand sanitizer, too, was spotty, workers claim.

Jasmine McLaughlin, a Starbucks worker laid off March 27, said that “since the coronavirus situation began, we have not had any hand sanitizer in our Starbucks store.”

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority put out hand sanitizer for passengers in public areas, but not in restaurants.

At Outback, Colon said a single bottle of hand sanitizer was put out two days before his layoff. And Jennifer Deida, a cook at On the Border who was also laid off, said one bottle of sanitizer was also put out by management before it was quickly used. It was not replaced, she said in the complaint.

For workers, tensions rose as more cases started to spread in Central Florida and the airport itself. Many work in low-wage positions and some have sick family members at home, like Sbarro’s cashier Maria Gonzalez whose 61-year-old mother has asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Gonzalez was laid off March 26 and returned to the airport on April 2 to see "that the McDonald’s had installed protective glass shields in front of the cashiers. But not at the HMSHost restaurant next door.”

Tejeda, the Starbucks barista, said she was worried she might have had the virus at one point, but managers never asked her about her symptoms.

"Some of my coworkers are still at the airport putting their lives at risk for ten bucks an hour, so that they can pay their rent or buy food in the middle of this pandemic,” she said.

Contact the reporter at [email protected] or 407-420-5660; Twitter @ChabeliH

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