PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City transit workers are considering suing SEPTA over the agency's COVID-19 quarantine policy. Union leaders say the policy may motivate workers to head to the job while sick.
SEPTA offers four weeks of full pay — that's two 14-day stretches — if a worker has or has been exposed to the coronavirus. But Transport Workers Union Local 234 said for a third quarantine, workers have to use sick time at half pay.
The union, which represents drivers and maintenance workers, sent SEPTA a letter last week saying that policy may encourage employees to go to work sick rather than risk losing pay.
"If you create a situation where you're encouraging people to come to work sick, well, what about my family? What about me taking that to the riding public? So there has to be something in court that we can get done. So we're looking at that right now," Local 234 president Willie Brown told KYW Newsradio.
Brown said Local 234 decided against a job action.
"We accept our responsibility," Brown said. "If we do a job action, how do you get the people — the doctors, the police, the service people, grocery workers, whatever — how do they get to work?"
SEPTA's assistant general manager for operations Scott Sauer said fewer than 100 workers have used up all of their fully paid quarantine time.
"We've offered that pretty well since April. And fewer than 100 people have used up all 160 hours," he said.
Sauer said so far, the transit agency has been able to hold the line on potentially deep cuts.
"SEPTA has not furloughed or laid off any employees," he said in an interview. "So we've managed to keep our workforce intact although we've taken a number of measures to reduce our expenditures. We're still losing a million dollars a day."
SEPTA assistant general manager for public and government affairs Fran Kelly said the authority wants to avoid a legal battle.
"The last thing we want to do is end up in a courtroom where we're trying to deal with this," Kelly said.
