Florida security contractor fired a worker after they raised concerns about COVID-19 safety
Gainesville FL Feb 18, 2022 A security contractor fired an employee fewer than 10 minutes after they raised concerns with supervisors about COVID-19 and firearm storage safety, a US Department of Labor (DOL) lawsuit says.
The DOL says in the suit, filed Monday, that Gainesville, Florida-based VRP Group, doing business as Regius Investigations and Protective Services, illegally terminated the worker in August 2020.
Employees at companies including Amazon, GameStop, and Instacart have complained about unsafe working conditions during the pandemic, including a lack of personal protective equipment, hazard pay, and clear COVID-19 safety policies. Concerns about health and safety are one of several factors driving workers out of customer-facing roles in favor of remote work, which is fuelling record quit rates.
The Regius worker was part of a group of employees temporarily relocated in or around Port Arthur, Texas, in August 2020, to supply security services to Entergy Texas, a power generation company, in response to hurricanes Laura and Marco, the DOL lawsuit says. The workers were first put up in a hotel before being moved to temporary housing, the suit says.
The worker raised concerns about the relocation in a group chat with supervisors on encrypted-messaging app Signal, citing concerns about COVID-19 policies and secure firearm storage, the lawsuit says. It says the relocated Reguis staff, including the since-fired employee, carried firearms as part of their employment.
