The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles now has a skeleton crew working out of its Wethersfield headquarters, with others working from home.
Employees there accused the administration of negligence and said no one should go inside for a week or more, calling the building a “...coronavirus hot zone.”
Tuesday everyone showed up for work since a memo from Commissioner Sibongile Magubane said “…all employees are expected to come to work…”
The building was shut down by midday, however. The DMV said “…circumstances continue to evolve rapidly.”
Unions representing employees at the Wethersfield headquarters said it was only because they reached out to the governor’s office, claiming they had knowledge of a half dozen or more co-workers with coronavirus.
John DiSette, president of the Administrative and Residual Employees Union, told NBC Connecticut, “Our perspective is that building is sick. There should be nobody in that building, at least for several days.”
See more union statements below.
For its part, the DMV administration said it did not know the extent of the number of coronavirus cases in its building until Tuesday.
The DMV now has limited services available to customers. Most of them are online.
One DMV examiner, who is home but can’t do his job from there, told NBC Connecticut “We all just see this as another missed opportunity by the rule makers to attempt to show they care for the health of their employees.”
UNION COMMENTS
From Patricia Davis, President, AFSCME Local 318. The union's membership includes 130 workers at DMV in Wethersfield:
"The agency’s lack of regard for the health and safety of our dedicated DMV employees and the public we serve is beyond alarming. Their inability to grasp the concept of a public health threat, and their defiance of the governor’s "stay home, stay safe" directive is inexcusable. We will continue to advocate for the well-being of our members and DMV customers throughout the state of Connecticut.”
