SAN JOSE — Nurses sent by Santa Clara County to assist beleaguered nursing homes overwhelmed by COVID-19 outbreaks are pushing back, saying the county has failed to deliver on promises to keep them safe amid the pandemic.
Two unions representing county workers — the Registered Nurses Professional Association and SEIU Local 521 — together filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California State Public Employment Relations Board, alleging that Santa Clara County officials made “false assurances” that workers sent into the nursing facilities would treat only COVID-19-negative patients and have adequate supervision, training and access to personal protective equipment.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the charge states. It also claims that the county refused to give prior notice or an opportunity for the unions to bargain over the assignments, even after employees complained that being sent into the skilled nursing facilities exposed them to “life-threatening workplace hazards.”
Such behavior by the county is a violation of its obligations to workers laid out in the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, a state law that sets labor management rules for governments and their workers, the unions’ claim states, adding that it applies even with the county’s state of emergency.
County Executive Dr. Jeffrey Smith did not immediately comment on the allegations Wednesday.
The county began sending its employees — assigned as “disaster service workers”– to help at nursing facilities hard hit by the virus.
Four nursing homes in the county have accounted for 360 infected patients and staff members, according to the county’s latest numbers. That includes Valley House Rehabilitation Center in Santa Clara with 94 cumulative infections, Cedar Crest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Sunnyvale with 65 and two San Jose facilities: Mt. Pleasant Nursing Center, also known as The Ridge Post-Acute, with 61 and Canyon Springs Post-Acute with 140.
Twelve patients have died at Canyon Springs, according to state data. That data also shows between one and 10 patients at Valley House and Mt. Pleasant have died.
Workers sent into facilities in early April faced issues immediately, such as a lack of protective equipment. Some used plastic bags on their hands, employees and union representatives told this news organization last month.
A county health care worker said at the time that workers were told patients would be separated from COVID-19-positive ones, “but when they got there, there was yellow tape on the floor and plastic on doors — no separation.”
“Nurses were told they would only be taking care of six to eight patients max. When they walked in they were told they would take a full load of 28 patients,” the worker told this news organization in mid-April, speaking on condition of anonymity because the worker didn’t have permission to speak to the press.
The unions filed an “imminent hazard complaint” with Cal/OSHA on April 17, noting that county workers sent to Canyon Springs Post-Acute nursing facility in San Jose found “worrisome” conditions, that facility employees there wore only surgical masks instead of N95 respirators, and lacked other protective gear. One facility worker was wearing a rain jacket and boots in lieu of a protective gown. Those who did have gowns were not changing them or sufficiently sanitizing them between room visits, the county workers said, noting that it was unclear what efforts the facility had made to get more protective equipment.
One county worker tasked with administering CPR in April to a patient said it appeared the resident had died “some unknown yet apparently substantial length of time before staff responded—which suggests that the staff at Canyon Springs were completely overwhelmed and underprepared to effectively manage the outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility,” the OSHA complaint said.
On Wednesday Canyon Springs administrator Benton Collins disputed the claims, saying “no staff member or healthcare worker has ever been without full protection when working in and outside of the COVID-19 isolation wards.”
Another worker sent to The Ridge Post-Acute said when she arrived, she soon learned that the entire facility was presumed to have become infected, according to the unions’ OSHA complaint. She was pulled off the assignment by the following day.
The unions’ more recent complaint to the Public Employment Relations Board also argues the county did not exhaust other alternatives before sending in its employees to the facilities.
It also questions why the county did not explore evacuating infected nursing home residents to county-run hospitals, despite the hospitals having enough room.
The county placed a confidentiality agreement on county workers assigned to COVID-19 duties, the complaint says, and when SEIU 521 representatives sent a cease-and-desist notice over that confidentiality agreement, they were ignored.
“In this pandemic, failures can cost lives,” said Marilyn Mara, a public health nurse for Santa Clara County, in a written statement. “Our co-workers at the front-lines deserve to get sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies. For the safety of our workers and the public, the County must discuss the details of the assignments as disaster service workers with its employees and their unions.”
Staff writer Julia Prodis-Sulek contributed reporting.
