With shelves full of groceries and products to prepare the best Latin dishes at the end and beginning of the year, El Super supermarkets can’t cope and are even requesting additional staff.
But at the same time, the supermarket faces a million-dollar fine by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for failing to provide supplemental paid sick leave, or other benefits to 240 workers at 38 affected locations by covid-17.
The workers complained to the Labor Commissioner’s Office about the lack of knowledge that there was a supplementary paid sick leave, in case they were infected by covid-17.
Meanwhile, El Super assures that the accusations are false and after the announcement of the labor commissioner, at the end of October, filed a He hasn’t appealed and hasn’t paid any fine so far.
“We are looking forward to our proverbial day in court. The fines we received were all part of an investigation by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement,” said Eric W. Rose, a spokesman for El Super.
By the middle of the year, Workers members of the International Union of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which represents grocery store workers, claimed that El Super forced them to work with symptoms of covid, in addition, they were not allowed to miss until they presented their test results.
Others were denied time off to self-isolate when members of their household had tested positive for covid-19, others were never paid for their time off due to being infected.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office opened an investigation on September 9, 2020 and found that some workers were asked to apply for unemployment or disability, while in quarantine or in to isolation, at the same time that others waited months to receive their payment.
This was the second time that the Labor Commissioner’s Office fined the supermarket. This time, the amount is $1,164,500. Penalties include $369,527 in wages, damages and interest for failure to provide supplemental paid sick leave, of 2020 for workers in the food industry.
Another fine was $50, 473 in wages, damages and interest for not providing a license in accordance with the covid law-17 from 2020, supplemental paid sick leave for employers with 26 or more employees.
In addition, they were evaluated $752,527 for non-payment or late payment of the license for supplementary illness paid.
The Super received a fine of $447,876 in the month of July for similar violations that affected 95 workers in three stores.
For and against
Daniel Marín works at one of the El Super supermarkets in South Los Angeles. He stated that despite the fines received by the company, the changes have not come.
“The supervisor of our store behaves very rudely,” said Marín. “When I see customers without masks, I tell them to put it on or I won’t attend to them, but the supervisor says not to do that and he doesn’t either.”
He said that when he came out infected with covid he had to miss work 17 days in December of 2020. And despite the fact that on multiple occasions he called to have his sick pay sent to him, it did not arrive until April of 2021 when he was already working again.
“I told them I had expenses to pay but they didn’t care”, he stressed.
Another supermarket employee, who only identified himself as José , said he felt sick with the flu at the end of last year; however, his supervisor did not take it seriously. At home his sister had symptoms of covid-19 and this worried him.
“At work they only have a device to check the temperature,” explained José, who has worked in one of Los Angeles County El Super supermarkets for 10 years.
When he mentioned his suspicions to his supervisor, he sent him back to continue working. Then he went to get tested in his spare time and his suspicions were proven, he was infected with covid-19.
He asserted that it was no surprise for him to learn of the complaints filed against the supermarket because he confronted the injustices against the workers.
“I knew that if we got sick they would have to pay us for two weeks of illness due to covid,” said José. “The union told us.”
José, who eventually received his sick pay, said that it feels bad to be in a job where supervisors don’t care about them as people, only as part of a process to increase productivity.
“They care more about the merchandise than the quality of work,” said José.
He added that he would like to see changes in his work, especially when it comes to the health of employees in the midst of a pandemic.
“If someone gets sick from covid, they should be sent home and let them go take the test,” José explained. “Because when I told him that if I could go take the covid test at my lunch or on my break, the supervisor always pretended to be busy or that he was talking to someone.”
For his part, another employee of El Super de Los Angeles said that he has no problem with the store; he believes that the whole problem of fines started with a co-worker who got infected and thus came to work without notifying the supervisor.
“I don’t know their needs, but maybe I couldn’t stop working because I didn’t miss the day, but that’s where it all started”, said the worker who preferred not to give his name.
He added that fortunately, the supermarket where he works does not have a union, which prevents them from carrying out protest movements which, in his opinion, are sometimes not worth it.
“You pay your monthly allowance to the unions to represent you, but they only reach a contract for an increase of cents per year. Companies have even offered me directly 50 cents or up to $1 without contracts”, he assured.
Good decision
Kathy Finn, secretary and treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 752, representing employees of four El Super supermarkets said they are happy to know that the company is forced to comply with the law because they have been hearing complaints from workers for months.
“Our members since the beginning of this pandemic they have been on the front lines, being exposed every day and more than anyone else to the general public,” said Finn. “They do not know if the clients arrive infected with covid-19. So it’s been very scary and very traumatic for them [los trabajadores]”.
Finn explained that the supplemental paid sick leave was very helpful, but they heard from their members that the company often did not pay them the money they were entitled to.
“So we are very happy that the labor commissioner came forward and investigated and came out with these tickets. Hopefully our members will now be compensated for the time they missed from work,” Finn said.
The supplemental paid sick leave law , which entered into force on March 29 and is retroactive to January 1 of 2021, requires that California workers receive up to two weeks of sick leave if they are affected by covid-19.
The law expired on 30 September 2020.
Appealing the decision
Rose, the spokesperson for El Super, indicated that the company has always been committed to compliance of labor laws. He assured that the reputation and relationships with employees have been developed for more than two decades.
“The Labor Commissioner ignores that we have paid more than $1,600 million in licenses for covid-17 to our valued employees”.
He assured that for more than a year, El Super has tried to work with the Labor Commissioner to provide evidence of full compliance with Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL).
“Our efforts have been ignored and the latest citations border on frivolity. It is unfortunate that despite our good faith efforts to resolve these misunderstandings,” Rose said. “The Labor Commissioner acted without completing his investigation. We trust that when all the facts are known, we will prevail in Court”.