September 19, 2022, UPE met with DHA management to discuss its plan to “segment” DHA worksites into separate internal work locations for COVID exposures. The Department feels that this plan will streamline contact tracing when there is a COVID exposure in a specific area in the building, but we understand exactly why they are doing it. Right now, when a worksite is in “major outbreak,” the Department is mandated to have each employee test twice per week.
The bottom line, the Department is not in control of how and when testing is done. Currently, when Bureaus are in major outbreak status, the Department is required to send everyone to test on-site or off-site. This is negatively impacting operations and hurting the Department’s control over its workers. In response, the Department assembled their think tank to devise this ridiculous scheme to end mandated testing and take back control. This cynical plan puts DHA’s culture of dishonesty on full display. It deliberately divides worksites to reduce the chance of outbreaks in order to bring an end to mandated testing and to keep employees working.
UPE will be working with CAL/OSHA to make sure that this plan is in line with the regulations, and if not, the complaint will be filed.