After Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Cumming informed them of her latest findings about sanitation workers, city officials have been scrambling to respond.

Cumming said she had discovered that 136 solid waste workers, or nearly one fifth of the sanitation force, did not have city-provided health insurance and were not receiving a waiver credit.

After interviewing 46 of the uncovered workers, her team found that many had received “brief or no” information about benefits during their orientation, didn’t realize they were without benefits and didn’t understand they were eligible for a credit of as much as $2,500.

Upset as she was by the city’s failure to support employees performing some of the city’s dirtiest and most physically demanding tasks, she was even more disturbed by the response of city officials.

“Deep down, it’s the culture – a really entrenched culture,” Cumming said, speaking to The Brew. “We tout ourselves as a second-chance employer for those with criminal records or with little work experience, but we don’t give them the tools to succeed.”

“We’re trying to turn the Titanic around here,” she said, pointing to some of the responses to her findings, a synopsis of which was published yesterday.

“There is a massive disconnect. And what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”

Inconvenient Hours

Cumming noted that in their formal reply to her report, Department of Human Resources Director Quinton Herbert and Department of Public Works Director Khalil Zaied cite a number of programs, including Digital Literacy Training.

These are offered to help municipal employees navigate Workday, the city’s notoriously user-unfriendly online program to manage employee hours and benefits.

“The training sessions are held on the 15th floor at 7 East Redwood Street,” she said, noting that workers would need to take buses from the outlying sanitation yards to get to the downtown Learning Lab.

“The fact that you’re having something in the middle of the day at Redwood when these laborers work from six o’clock in the morning till four in the afternoon is really something,” Cumming fumed.

(Only 39 DPW workers have ever made it there, according to the city’s response memo, which notes that “DPW and DHR continue to coordinate efforts to provide this training to a larger set of employees.”)

“We have to recognize the equity gap and do better”  – IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

Cumming also singled out the inconvenient timing of of DHR’s open enrollment benefits training sessions.

“Unlike everyone else who works for the city, who get permission to leave and go to these things, these men are on the back of a trash truck and, you know, the trash always comes first,” she said. “They’re not gonna let them off to attend a training session.”

To address this problem, a Mini-Benefits Fair has been organized for solid waste workers on October 21, a Monday, their day off.

“If they have to come in for this on Monday, their off day, do they get the same two hours of pay that the other people do?” Cumming asked.

“I haven’t got an answer to that yet.”

Blaming Workers

Cumming appeared most irritated by a footnote in the city’s response that says, “of the 276 DPW employees without any benefit election, all but four had signed into Workday via computer or mobile device.”

“This data,” the footnote goes on to chide, “highlights potential lapses in employee accountability.”

Cumming pushed back, saying that while most trash truck workers have figured out how to use Workday to get paid, many are unclear about how to do much more.

“They know how to enter their time, but they don’t realize all the other things that are on it,” Cumming said, calling the situation “a management failure.”

“For these men and women, money is so important. Yet they leave $2,500 on the table,” she noted. “Clearly, they didn’t understand or know about the credit waiver, and that it’s money you can get if you happen to have Obamacare or Medicare or you’re on your parents’ insurance.”

Her report notes that the average Bureau of Solid Waste employee only makes about $39,000 a year.

“Workday is complicated for everybody, but especially for people for whom this is their first job ever. Or who haven’t had a lot of educational opportunities or don’t have a computer at home,” she continued, imploring agency heads to start “recognizing the massive equity gap and do better.”

Positive Steps

It wasn’t all criticism coming from Cumming.

She praised Zaied for having letters mailed or hand-delivered to the uncovered workers she identified, informing them of their eligibility for benefits and how to sign up for them.

“He did that the day after he got my report,” she pointed out. “That’s leadership.”

The city’s written response pledged to take the OIG’s recommendations “under advisement” and “work to provide information and access to employees to make the best-informed choice regarding their employee benefits elections.”

“We are committed to creating a transparent and equitable system that enables all employees, regardless of their job classification, to access and benefit from the programs offered,” it continued.

Cumming said DPW has moved quickly to ensure that Workday kiosks are being installed in all solid waste yards to enable workers to sign up for benefits.

Several programs that reference health benefits were also listed in the city’s response, including DPW’s Culture Camp for new hires, described as “a comprehensive 30-60-90-day, on-boarding program strategically designed to cultivate our organization’s positive, high-performance work culture.”

AFSCME “shocked”

Its rosy description of the agency’s work environment comes in stark contrast to the toxic culture described by employees and union leaders at a press conference held shortly after the August 2 death of solid waste crew member Ronald Silver II.

“The hazing, intimidation and bullying must end,”said Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3, which represents Bureau of Solid Waste workers like Silver.

Shortly before Silver’s death, Cumming released two reports about unsafe and unhealthy conditions for solid waste crews.

The reports documented the lack of cold water and air conditioning at sanitation yards, including a worksite where male employees had to request toilet paper.

“It is clear that the human resource department is not supporting our members”  – Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3.

Asked yesterday whether the union was aware that some of its members didn’t have health care benefits, Moran provided this written statement through a spokeswoman:

We were shocked by this most recent finding that many solid waste workers are without health insurance and that many were also not provided adequate information to enroll.

As the employer, Baltimore City is responsible for offering and enrolling our members into their employment benefits. It is clear that the human resource department is not supporting our members, and all city employees, in ensuring they receive their proper benefits.