JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After Mayor Lenny Curry issued an executive order last week that anyone who has the ability to work from home, must work from home - the city began getting complaints of workers still being asked to go into work.
On Monday, Mayor Curry said during a press briefing that officers were investigating the complaints the office received. First Coast News requested a list of complaints and which were investigated and if there was any punishment for the businesses or companies involved.
As of Tuesday at 11 a.m., a total of 69 complaints have been filed against businesses across the First Coast for not properly following Curry's executive order.
Majorie Dennis, a public communications officer with the city, says municipal code officers visited seven businesses and spoke to business owners at six of them (one was closed).
Those six were: Amazon, Phoenix Products, Maximus, Sally's Beauty Warehouse, North Florida shipyards and Michael's Distribution Center.
No citations have been issued at this point but changes were made at each business to ensure that the executive order was being properly followed.
Businesses & Inspection Notes:
FACILITY: Amazon
LOCATION: 12900 Pecan Park Road
COMPLAINT: "Co-Worker tested positive and is no longer in office but the people may have come in contact w/ positive employee still at work. Met with the safety compliance officer Darry Fortoul. There are 1143 employees working at this facility."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with the safety compliance officer.... There are 1143 employees working at this facility. The following steps were taken to comply with executive order 2020-03: All employees capable from working from home are working from home. All personal meetings have been placed on hold. They conduct 8 social distancing audits per day. Shifts have been adjusted to prevent employees from working closely together. All security screenings has been eliminated. The employees have been instructed to communicate via telephone and refrain from using the lockers rooms. Some tables and chairs have been removed to prevent close gatherings and the social distancing is further monitored by cameras."
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FACILITY: Phoenix Products
LOCATION: 1727 Bennett St.
COMPLAINT: "Claim management has said EO doesn’t apply because it's not from the state."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with a business representative at this location and they operate with approximately 80 employees at a given time with 100 total employed. 6 administrative employees have been identified as eligible to work from home and steps are being taken to give them the appropriate equipment. Extra hand sanitizing stations have been added to the property and social distancing standards are mandated for all staff."
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FACILITY: Maximus Federal
LOCATION: 1 Imeson Park Blvd.
COMPLAINT: "Company is a call center-employees working closer than 6ft and unable to work from home."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with manager... of Maximus Federal. This business is a US Census call center and has 1,000 total employees, 250 are currently on site. Due to the sensitive information obtained in the census, the business does not permit employees from working from home. To comply with the executive order, the business has switched to a 2-group rotation and has every other cubicle empty at any given time."
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FACILITY: Sally's Beauty Warehouse
LOCATION: 1550 Vantage Way
COMPLAINT: "Employees are not allowed to practice social distancing and employer is not providing adequate sanitary products to employees."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with... of Beauty Supply Warehouse. There are approximately 30 employees working. The following steps were taken to comply with executive order 2020-03: Reduced number of employees working, moved work stations further apart, hung plastic curtains between work stations, filling online orders only, reduced receiving, allow employees that are sick, over 65 or are uncomfortable to stay home. They have increased cleaning, staggered shifts."
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FACILITY: North Florida Shipyards
LOCATION: 2060 E Adams St.
COMPLAINT: "Employer is not allowing employee to work from home though their position would allow them to do so. Proper precautions are not being taken at office."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with a manager.... of this ship repair company. The business employees approximately 200 people with 116 employees on site at a given time, operating in 10-hour shifts. 8 employees were approved for work-from-home and the business practices social distancing standards when practical."
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FACILITY: Michael's Distribution Center
LOCATION: 9200 W Beaver Street
COMPLAINT: "The employees are unable to practice social distancing and there are not adequate amounts of sanitary supplies."
NOTES FROM CODE OFFICER: "Met with business manager... at this location. They employ 307 employees and 155 employees were present at the time of this visit. The business states that there are not any positions that allow work-from-home due to the hands-on requirement for packing boxes. They stated that they practice social distancing with a minimum of 6’ between employees, both within the warehouse and the office staff."
This list will be updated as more businesses are visited by Jacksonville code enforcement officers.