Civil rights teams file federal criticism over NC Division of Labor’s failure to guard employees from COVID-19

In case you failed, a group of civil rights organizations – including the North Carolina Justice Center (parent organization of NC Policy Watch) – filed a complaint with the federal government yesterday because the North Carolina Department of Labor continues to fail to adequately protect the state workers from COVID- 19th

North Carolina’s failure to enact regulations to protect workers from COVID-19 or to investigate COVID-19 complaints violates the state’s obligation to be at least as effective as the Federal Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA ), an administrative complaint filed by civil rights, and labor rights groups with federal OSHA said today.

The Civil Rights Advocacy Committee, the North Carolina Justice Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which jointly represent the Episcopal Ministry of Agriculture, NC State AFL-CIO, Western North Carolina State Workers Center, and the NAACP’s NC State Conference, Fight For $ 15 and a union, the Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County filed a state program administration (CASPA) complaint against the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) for a lack of enforcement of the North Carolina Labor Protection Act. OSHANC), according to which the NCDOL must be at least as effective in protecting workers as the federal OSHA.

CASPA comes after the groups submitted an application to NCDOL in October for a new policy to protect workers from COVID-19, which the agency rejected in early November. According to the complaint filed today, NCDOL has abandoned its legal responsibility to protect the health and safety of workers in North Carolina during the pandemic, which has disproportionately harmed paint workers who are over-represented in workers with higher COVID-19 rates.

According to the state, there is a higher probability that employees are exposed to COVID-19 in certain professional situations. However, because NCDOL has arbitrarily decided that these risks are not covered by OSHA standards, they have not adequately investigated COVID-related complaints or enacted new rules to protect workers. At the same time, NCDOL reported that almost a third of workplace deaths in 2020 were due to COVID-19.

Read the complaint at this link.

The following are statements from groups involved in the case:

Mark Dorosin, executive attorney for the Civil Rights Lawyers’ Committee: “North Carolina’s failure to uphold basic rules is a public health and safety responsibility that will have an immediate detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of thousands of black, Hispanic and Indigenous workers across the state. We hope that this complaint will lead the federal government to advise the state to take reasonable protective measures to protect workers from this deadly virus. “

Carol Brooke, Senior Staff Attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center: “The organizations raising these concerns about federal OSHA saw firsthand what happened when NCDOL made its commitment to enforcing existing health and safety standards and the General Mandatory Clause, as well as creating new rules to protect workers COVID has given up. We urge federal OSHA to investigate this complaint fully and quickly so that workers in North Carolina can work in safe and healthy workplaces that are free of identified hazards.

Julia Solórzano, attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center: “All workers deserve a safe and decent job, but the state has shirked its responsibility to uphold this fundamental right. The failure of NCDOL is at the expense of the main workforce, which is predominantly black, brown, indigenous and immigrant. These important workers are employed on the front lines to keep our country going and to keep food on the plates of the North Carolinians. These workers are essential and unavailable. The agency must enforce COVID protection in the workplace. “