CalOSHA
Sacramento District Office
Vacant, District Manager
1750 Howe Ave. Suite 430
Sacramento, CA 95825
phone:(916) 263-2800
fax:(916) 263-2798
Via email: DOSHSAC@dir.ca.gov
January 21, 2022
RE: Jack In The Box, 8655 Auburn Blvd, Roseville CA 95661
We are Ana Leticia Nande, Maria Miguel, Eloisa De La Cruz, Herminia Farias, Estrella Starbina Cross, Bladimir Granados, Tallon Ralston and Gonzalo Espinoza, seven current and one former worker at the Jack In The Box at 8655 Auburn Blvd in Roseville.
We are writing to ask you to require Jack In The Box to comply with COVID-19 safety standards. We are concerned that management understands what they are required to do to meet safety standards, but applies these standards selectively, based on race. Please inspect the store where we work. Please interview us to establish the facts and determine what can be done to require our employer to protect us, regardless of our race.
Management showed their true colors this week. On Tuesday (January 18), when a worker complained of COVID-like symptoms, management did what they are supposed to do. They sent him home. But what the Jack In The Box District Manager (Mercedes) said tells you what we want you to understand and help us address. She said, “We need to send him home because he is white.”
Unfortunately, Jack In The Box managements’ actions match their words. In August of last year, one of us (Herminia) told the same District Manager that her husband was sick with COVID, that she was unvaccinated at that time and needed to quarantine. The Jack In The Box District Manager told Herminia no, that she had to work until she was sick. So she worked for two days. On day three she was sick, and on day four she tested positive for COVID. During that time Herminia worked very closely with Gonzalo. Gonzalo was not quarantined either and also became sick with COVID, impacting his entire family.
Black and Latino workers should be protected under the law, just as white workers should also be protected. Please use the enforcement authority of CalOSHA to require this Jack In The Box to comply with the Revised CalOSHA COVID Emergency Temporary Standards and public health guidance to stop and prevent the spread of COVID, including:
• Exclude workers from the workplace who are sick with COVID-like symptoms or exposed to COVID, as required
• When there is a case of COVID, notify coworkers and quarantine close contacts as required
2
Here is more information about COVID safety at this Jack In The Box store:
STATEMENT OF GONZALO ESPINOZA
In August 2021 Herminia told Mercedes, the District Manager, that her husband was sick with COVID and that she was unvaccinated at that time and needed to quarantine, and Mercedes told her she had to work until she was sick. Herminia worked for two days, on day three she was sick and on day four she tested positive for COVID. During that time I worked closely with Herminia. I started having COVID symptoms on the same day Herminia tested positive, I told Mercedes he had COVID symptoms, and she threatened to fire me if I didn’t keep the store open 24 hours, and she said I had to work until I showed a positive COVID test. I was not vaccinated at the time, and I should have been quarantined as a close contact. I took an over-the-counter COVID test and came out positive, and Mercedes did not accept the test and required me to get another COVID test, and again it came out positive for COVID. I became very sick, I could not breathe or eat or taste or smell and I was very weak. All the adults in my household got sick with COVID right after I did, including my wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
DESIGNATION OF EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVE
We designate Fight for $15 California as the designated employee representative in all contacts with CalOSHA and the company for this Complaint. We also designate Maria Maldonado from Fight for $15 California as our designated employee representative, she can be reached at 408 477- 5180, maria.maldonado@thefightfor15.org.
Ms. Maldonado will be happy to provide you with any information which will assist you in investigating this case and arrange for your inspector to meet privately, at a site away from the workplace, with workers to discuss the hazards at this site. Such a meeting can be held either before or after the physical inspection of the worksite.
We worked with the Fight for $15 staff to translate and transcribe this statement.
Sincerely,
Ana Leticia Nande
Maria Miguel
Eloisa De La Curz
Herminia Farias
Estrella Starbina Cross
Bladimir Granados
Tallon Ralston
Gonzalo Espinoza