From: Barbara Bowen <psc2334b@pscmail.org>
Date: March 18, 2020 at 11:26:41 PM EDT
To: Michael@mandiberg.com

Subject: What to do if you are asked to report to work on campus tomorrow

Reply-To: psc2334b@pscmail.org

Good evening,

If you have been told to report to work on campus or at another CUNY location
tomorrow, the PSC offers the following guidance. We are here to support you and
protect your legal rights.

First, find out if there have been any changes in the status of your college or workplace
by checking online. Under intense and public pressure by PSC members, several
colleges have taken action late this afternoon and closed some libraries and other
services. Others have closed because of confirmed cases of the virus. Make sure your
information is up to date. Just tonight, for example, the Queens College president
announced that the campus would be closed for the next two days because of two
suspected cases. If your college has not yet done the right thing to protect public
health, send a message to your college president demanding that it does.

e If it appears that your worksite is still open and arrangements have not been
made for you to work remotely, check with your supervisor before traveling
in to work. Make sure you are still being asked to come in to work
physically.

e If you feel unwell for any reason, stay home. Use your sick days or personal
emergency leave days (for adjunct CLTs and non-teaching adjuncts) and
report in the usual way that you will be home sick. The Centers for Disease
Control and both State and City government strongly caution against going
to work while sick, regardless of the reason for your illness. You risk
contracting COVID-19 yourself when your immune system is stressed, and
you risk spreading your illness at a time when the population is vulnerable.

e If you were formally designated "essential staff" when you accepted your job
or prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, demand that you have adequate
protective clothing, mask, gloves or other gear required to do your job. You
are entitled under both federal and state law, as well as the PSC contract, to a
workplace "free from recognized hazards." The union recommends that you
ask your supervisor for a written explanation of why your job is considered


"essential" during this emergency and that you supply a copy of the
explanation to the PSC.

e Even if you know that your job is considered an "essential staff" job, you
should not be at work if you are in one of the groups categorized as higher
risk by the Centers for Disease Control or if you share a household with
someone who is. According to the CDC, the higher risk category includes
older adults, people with asthma, people with HIV, and pregnant women, as
well as people with certain underlying health conditions, such as diabetes.
Contact your supervisor before traveling in to work and ask for an
accommodation because of your circumstances. The CUNY chancellor has
informed the union that colleges have been open to such accommodations
when they are requested. If your request was not accepted, contact the PSC
at psc@pscmail.org and let us know.

e If you were not formally designated "essential staff" when you accepted your
position or prior to the outbreak of coronavirus and you believe that being
designated "essential" now is an error or abuse of discretion, contact the PSC
at psc@pscmail.org and let us know. The union is pushing back hard against
CUNY management's overbroad definition of "essential employees." As a
result of PSC pressure, several campuses have now closed almost all campus
offices and transferred work to distance technology.

e If you are still being told to report and none of the situations above apply to
you, you still have legal rights in the workplace. It has taken unions and
activists generations to win these rights, and they are still not as robust as we
would like. As a general rule, if you are ordered to work, the law requires
you to obey the order to report to work. In some limited cases, where there is
an imminent threat of serious injury or death, you may lawfully refuse to
perform the work as ordered.

e According to the regulations of the US Department of Labor,when an
employee is confronted with a choice between not performing assigned tasks
and subjecting him/herself to serious injury or death because of a dangerous
condition at the workplace, there are some circumstances in which the
employee is permitted to refuse to perform the assigned work. The
dangerous condition must be such that a reasonable person, under the
circumstances then confronting the employee, would conclude that there is a
real danger of death or serious injury with insufficient time to remedy the
problem.



e If you believe that such a danger exists and you have not yet notified your
supervisor, you must notify your supervisor-in writing-that you consider
your workplace unsafe, whether because you cannot maintain social
distancing from other employees or because you are concerned that it was
not adequately decontaminated. You should state explicitly that there is
insufficient time to eliminate the danger through regular legal channels. The
result may be that you are relocated. But if you can be relocated, you should
also be able to work remotely.

e The PSC believes that no one should be placed in danger of death by their
workplace. While the law on employee safety rights, passed against fierce
resistance by employers, does not provide all the rights we believe it should,
it does offer you protection. The PSC will make every effort to defend you if
you do assert your rights under the law and are subject to repercussions.

It is outrageous that anyone, especially someone who has given their life's work to
CUNY, would be put in the position of making the choices described above. That's
why the PSC has demanded that all of our members' work be conducted remotely and
why we will continue to push until every member is safe in their job. Discussions with
management are going on tonight, and I hope to hear of more colleges doing the right
thing by tomorrow morning.

Take care of yourself, and stay in touch with your union.
In solidarity,

Barbara Bowen
President, PSC/CUNY