CalPERS Emergency Telework Petition
Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer, CalPERS & Theresa Taylor, Board President, CalPERS
Multiple outbreaks at CalPERS impacting multiple divisions warrant all CalPERS employees eligible for telework being sent home to telework to prevent further outbreaks. Current CalPERS procedures allow individual Division Chiefs to determine telework options for exposed employees. This is unacceptable since multiple Divisions are being impacted at the same time, and telework decisions are not consistent leaving employees still in office at a higher risk for exposure.
CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost's webchats have been inadequate to address this problem. CEO Frost consistently states that she will monitor the data when making decisions for telework. The pandemic is not over. We understand that five Divisions are in current outbreak status, which means this is a major outbreak per Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). DIR also advises that authorized employee representatives should be informed of outbreak statistics for any positive cases and any close contacts. Furthermore, when there is a major outbreak, DIR advises that employers shall evaluate whether to halt some or all operations at the workplace until COVID-19 hazards have been corrected.
SEIU Local 1000 DLC 781 President Hoang-Van Nguyen, who is also a CalPERS employee has not received these statistics as the authorized employee representative for CalPERS Headquarters.
We cannot allow these health risks to leave us short staffed and unable to deliver to our stakeholders.
Citation: CalOSHA Regulation § 3205.2. Major COVID-19 Outbreaks
Petition by
To:
Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer, CalPERS & Theresa Taylor, Board President, CalPERS
From:
[Your Name]
From May 12, 2022 thru sunset on May 16, 2022 the flags of our country were ordered to be flown at half-staff to mark nearly 1,000,000 Covid-19 related deaths. This is a grim reminder of the impact that the Coronavirus pandemic has had on our country, which has forever changed the way we all conduct our lives and business.
We recognize the importance of remaining vigilant against this pandemic, and doing everything we can to save as many lives as possible. Which is why it is imperative that we acknowledge that in Sacramento County alone, the number of reported Covid-19 infections has spiked from a 7-day average of 56 cases in mid-March to 614 cases as of the week of May 20th.
In response, we, the working people of CalPERS; fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends, urge the CalPERS management team to rethink its return to work strategy and to keep us safe by:
1. Reinstituting telework to its full potential until the current uptick in Covid-19 cases drops, and;
2. Establishing a one for all policy (“if it affects me, it affects all of us”) and ensure if multiple divisions experience outbreaks, all CalPERS employees who can telework are sent home to work from home until all outbreaks are cleared.
3. Inform DLC 781 President Hoang-Van Nguyen of any positive cases and close contact notices per DIR guidance.
This petition was created, and being distributed by Hoang-Van Nguyen, SEIU Local 1000 DLC 781 President and CalPERS Represented Employee.