It is a fight to level the playing field to be able to compete for jobs and careers on the basis of skills and make available apprentice training to all. In 1973 Al Percy launched a class action lawsuit to give workers like him a chance to better their lot in life. It would also ensure the availability of skilled workers to build the infrastructure of the future.
Case 1:21-cv-01421-NGG Case MDL No. 3011 Document 1 25-6 Filed 03/17/21 Filed 06/24/21 Page 56 Page of 154 56 of PageID 154 #: 312 398. When low staffing levels dropped further due to staff COVID-19 illness or quarantine, there were even fewer staff available to care for residents’ needs at these facilities. At the same time, when residents had COVID-19, their individual and collective care needs increased due to the need to comply with COVID-19 infection control protocols. This need increased the workload for the remaining staff providing direct care in several respects, even as low staffing numbers dropped further. These decreases in staffing levels occurred at the same time that necessary visitation restrictions removed the supplemental caregiving provided pre-pandemic by many family visitors at low staff facilities. AG Report page 25. 399. AOG investigations indicate that when there were insufficient staff to care for residents, some nursing homes pressured, knowingly permitted, or incentivized existing employees who were ill or met quarantine criteria to report to work and even work multiple consecutive shifts, in violation of infection control protocols. Thus, poor initial staffing before the pandemic meant even less care for residents during the pandemic: subtraction of any caregivers from an already under-staffed facility results in increased interaction among possibly infectious staff and residents, with less time for the staff to adhere to proper infection control precautions. AG Report page 25. 400. Multiple Complaints of Insufficient Staffing: OAG received several other complaints and allegations of insufficient staffing due to COVID-19 in facilities that had pre-pandemic low staffing, AG Report page 26. 401. An employee complained that a for-profit nursing home on Long Island had an insufficient number of staff due to staff being out sick. The facility reportedly tried to fill vacant positions by using staffing agencies but said there was a limited pool of personnel from which it could hire. AG Report page 26. 402. Government issued a policy may have led to an increased risk to residents in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess the risk. AG Report page 36. 403. The program must include “a system for preventing, identifying, reporting, investigating, and controlling infections and communicable diseases for all residents, staff, volunteers, visitors, and other individuals providing services; “and “precautions to be followed to prevent spread of infections.” [Reference to footnote 92] The plan must be reviewed annually and updated as necessary and the facility must hire an infection preventionist who is responsible for the infection control plan. [Reference to footnote 93] Finally correcting the State issued policy, the regulation outlining infection control was updated on May 8, 2020 to include specific reporting and communication requirements relating to COVID-19. AG Report page 46 404. Many nursing homes severely lacked personal protective equipment (“PPE”) for workers. In some instances, nursing home owners forewent infection control protocols, telling 56
Case 1:21-cv-01421-NGG Case MDL No. 3011 Document 1 25-6 Filed 03/17/21 Filed 06/24/21 Page 57 Page of 154 57 of PageID 154 #: 313 staff that masks and other PPE were not mandatory because they did not have enough supplies. In other cases, re-use of PPE may have contributed to the spread of infection. Nursing homes should be required to have a sufficient inventory of PPE in case of a future outbreak. AG Report page 50. 405. Owner Operator facilities were so understaffed due to staff quarantining, working from home, and pre-existing low staffing, that the onsite management of the entire facility was left in the hands of just a few supervisory nurses, New York State Attorney General Report Pg. 4 406. The Owner Operator Defendants failed to properly isolate residents who tested positive for COVID-19; failing to adequately screen or test employees for COVID-19; demanded that sick employees continue to work and care for residents or face retaliation or termination; failed to train employees in infection control protocols; and failed to obtain, fit, and train caregivers with PPE. New York State Attorney General Report Pg. 3 407. OAG received reports that nursing homes did not properly screen staff members before allowing them to enter the facility to work with residents. Among those reports, OAG received an allegation that a for-profit nursing home north of New York City failed to consistently conduct COVID-19 employee screening. It was reported that some staff avoided having their temperatures taken and answering a COVID-19 questionnaire at times when the screening station at the facility’s front entrance had no employees present to take that information or when staff entered the facility through a back entrance, avoiding the screening station altogether. New York State Attorney General Report 408. In one instance in late April 2020, a nurse supervisor had set up bins in front of the units with gowns and N95 masks to make it appear that the facility had an adequate supply of appropriate PPE for staff. The nurse alleged that the nurse supervisor came in to work unusually early the day of the first inspection and brought out all new PPE and collected all of the used gowns. Although the initial DOH survey conducted that day did not result in negative findings, DOH returned to the facility for follow-up inspections, issued the facility several citations, and ultimately placed the facility in “Immediate Jeopardy.” New York State Attorney General Report Pg. 4 409. Insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for nursing home staff put residents at increased risk of harm during the COVID-19 pandemic in some facilities. AG Report page 6 410. Insufficient COVID-19 testing for residents and staff in the early stages of the pandemic put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities. AG Report page 6 411. The AG Report identifies what is quantified by the Class Plaintiff in this Complaint, by saying: “The current state reimbursement model for nursing homes gives a financial incentive to owners of for-profit nursing homes to transfer funds to related parties 57
