Too Little, Too Late: Queens DEP Workers Pan Coronavirus Response

CORONA, QUEENS — A week after an employee at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection's LeFrak City headquarters died of the new coronavirus, another worker on that floor has tested positive for the virus and hundreds are still reporting to the office, Patch has learned.

While the agency has transitioned dozens more employees to working remotely since Patch reported that workers in the Bureau of Customer Services were afraid to go to the office after their coworker's death, several said the agency is moving too slowly when it comes to protecting the "little people."

Starting at the end of last week and beginning of this week, the agency has distributed protective gear to workers it deemed essential and is taking the temperatures of anyone who may have been exposed to the virus, which an agency spokesperson said reflects new guidance from the state health department.

At least 21 Department of Environmental Protection employees in the LeFrak City office had tested positive for the virus as of Thursday — three times the number of cases reported last week. Workers on the building's seventh floor, home to the mailroom supervisor who died of the virus last week, told Patch they were notified Wednesday of a new case on their floor.

"If I was the commissioner or the assistant commissioner sitting there, I would’ve fought more for my workers," one employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Patch. "I don’t think they really care about us. It’s always us, the little people, that have to do the work."

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More than 300 workers, or about 13 percent of the agency's normal workforce in that building, are still reporting to the office. They include employees in the drinking water quality laboratories, water and sewer operations, wastewater treatment, contracting, customer service and finance, a spokesperson said.

"During a public health emergency the continued operation of the City’s water and wastewater systems is absolutely critical and every step is being instituted to protect our dedicated employees," agency spokesperson Ted Timbers said in an emailed statement to Patch.

Last week, roughly 16 percent of the 2,500 people who work in the LeFrak City office reported to work, Timbers told THE CITY, which also reported on workers' grievances after their colleague's death.

Timbers said the agency introduced teleworking, staggered shifts and social distancing three weeks ago as measures to limit the spread of the virus, but some employees told Patch they weren't sure why they were deemed essential workers not subject to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's stay-at-home order.

Those continuing to work include employees in the Bureau of Customer Services who handle inquiries related to water bills and scan in related documents for record-keeping.

"Why do we have to be essential in this case?” said another worker, who said rent and utilities payments should be suspended until the crisis subsides and New Yorkers head back to work. “You think they’re gonna pay their water bill if they cannot pay their rent?”

Workers' characterizations of how the Department of Environmental Protection adjusted to the pandemic fits into a larger pattern of city and state officials delaying decisions on measures like closing schools and instituting social-distancing measures, most recently outlined in a New York Times report.

Timbers, the agency spokesperson, attributed the newer measures of taking temperatures and providing masks and gloves to updated guidelines for essential employees issued by the state Department of Health.

Since Patch's report last week, many employees on the LeFrak City office's seventh floor, where the employee who died of the coronavirus had worked, have been given laptops and have switched to working from home. Workers who spoke to Patch said the agency should also shut operations down and do a deep cleaning of their offices.

There will be 15 people reporting to work on the seventh floor on Friday, the spokesperson said, compared to more than 140 on a normal day.

“It is a very minimal number, but that’s what they should have always done,” a worker told Patch. “Everything is reactionary.”