COVID outbreak hits Tustin call center; employees frustrated over work conditions

Kristy Pham was driving to the office Monday of last week when a coworker called to warn that he might have exposed her to coronavirus.

As it turned out, his case was part of a bigger outbreak.

The virus swiftly spread through the AT&T call center in Tustin. By the following Monday, Oct. 26, at least 30 employees – one-fifth of the workforce – had tested positive for COVID-19.

On Friday, Gale Ballard, 51, who recently celebrated her 20th anniversary with the company, died at home from COVID-like symptoms. Ballard’s family is still awaiting autopsy results to determine whether her death was related to coronavirus.

“The only way we keep track of cases is by telling each other,” said Pham, 47, who tested negative. “AT&T has not done any contact tracing.”

Over the weekend, on Oct. 25, the telecommunications giant announced it will close the building until Nov. 9.

Ever since May 1, when AT&T ended a six-week program that allowed people to take paid leaves, the employees have been arguing for a work-from-home option.

The employees field calls from residential customers – helping them with issues related to technology and billing, and promoting products.

“It’s something we easily could do from our homes,” said Pham, an Anaheim resident. “What’s really irksome is that upper management is telling us we have to go into the office from the safety of their own homes.”

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  Gale Ballard, 51, a customer representative at the AT&T call center in Tustin, died at home from COVID-like symptoms Friday, Oct. 23. Ballard’s family is still awaiting autopsy results to determine whether her death was related to coronavirus. The facility has had an outbreak of coroanvirus resulting in at least 30 cases over one week.

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  Kenny Williams, from the CWA union, left, and AT&T service reps, Peter O’Brien, center, and Kristy Pham, holding a picture if their recently deceased coworker, Gale Ballard, in Tustin, CA, on Monday, October 26, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  Anthony Testa at his desk at the AT&T call center in Tustin. The facility has suffered an outbreak of about 30 coronavirus cases over the past week.

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On Thursday, Oct. 22, employees held a demonstration outside of the building. Tustin City Councilwoman Letitia Clark helped get the word out in advance, and the event was attended by Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, and other officials.

The decision by AT&T to close the building came two days later.

“It’s way too little way too late,” said Kenny Williams, a local representative for labor union Communications Workers of America.

Williams pointed out that the same building houses service representatives who deal with business clients.  Under a different management team, those employees are allowed to work from home.

“The majority of our employees are working from home, but we have teams who must report to an office due to the nature of the work that they perform,” AT&T spokesman Jim Kimberly said in an email.

Employees said their managers told them that because they have access to customers’ private information – including credit card and Social Security numbers – they must work in a secure environment.

Kimberly did not respond to a question about why the employees who assist business customers are permitted to work remotely.

Corona resident Eddie Rivera, 46, said the company cracked down on security protocols in 2015 when AT&T was fined $25 million by the Federal Communications Commission for a residential customer data breach at a call center in Mexico.

“From that point on, we could not bring our personal technology into the office to guard against someone taking photos of sensitive information,” Rivera said.

Even so, he added, allowances could have been considered during a pandemic. “Most of us have worked here for 20 years or more,” Rivera said. “We’re not going to do something silly with customer information and put our jobs at risk.”

Rivera started feeling achy and fatigued a week ago. On Oct. 20, he tested positive. Now his wife and 12-year-old daughter have coronavirus, as well. None of them have suffered serious symptoms, he said.

“This kind of outbreak was bound to happen,” Rivera said. “I’m surprised it took so long, given our work conditions.”

Since March, employees have sat in every other cubicle, “like a checkerboard,” Rivera said. “But we’re still only six feet apart, and the partitions are not high. We wear masks when we walk around, but not while we are talking to customers.”

To space out employees, some were moved to cubicles erected in conference rooms, Rivera said, “where ventilation is even worse.”

AT&T has implemented stringent safety procedures, spokesman Kimberly said.

“All employees and contractors who enter our workspace must complete a daily health assessment and answer questions about COVID-19 symptoms and potential exposure to those with COVID-19,” Kimberly said.

But employees said the self-assessments, filled out at home, depend on an honor system.

Workers receive 10 extra sick days only if they test positive for coronavirus, Williams said. If they only have symptoms, such as a headache, they must use sick or vacation time. When that is depleted, they must use unpaid leave.

“For instance, I get migraines,” Rivera said. “So do I check, ‘Yes, I have a headache’ – although I don’t think it has anything to do with coronavirus – and get docked a day of work?”

Cynthia Torres, 45, who lives in Corona, was on a Zoom meeting with colleagues last week when she received notice that her COVID test came back positive.

“I just broke down,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry, you guys.’ I feel so guilty.”

Her husband now has coronavirus symptoms.

“We have lots of employees over the age of 50, pregnant women, people with family members who have health issues,” Torres said. “We are longtime, loyal employees, And many of us have been fearful for months about going into work.”

Eastvale resident Anthony Testa, 43, said he and his coworkers feel “disillusioned and let down.”

“I don’t know how people come back from this – how we will get on the phone with customers feeling good about the products we sell,” Testa said. “We’re professionals and good employees, so we’ll figure it out. But this is all so disappointing.”

Testa remembers Ballard, who died Friday, as a “bubbly, fun-loving person who lit up the room and made everyone feel happy.”

Her niece, Larisha Hunter, described Ballard as “the backbone of my family.”

“She was very active in her Compton community, ” Hunter said. “She did things like blanket drives for homeless people. We’ve lost a guardian angel.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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