As a customer service representative for the Connecticut Department of Labor in Waterbury, Mayra Cruz of AFSCME Local 269 is on the phone for 10 hours a day, without a telephone headset, assisting clients with their claims and answering questions.
Receiving and returning calls has been non-stop since their office closed to the public. About 50 other employees come into the office daily. The public health crisis poses a unique challenge for her – both in her job and at home.
“I feel responsible to whomever I have contact with over the phone,” Cruz said. I want to get back to them and make sure they are taken care of. That’s why I decided to work overtime, because I worry about the people.”
Since early April, 280,000 workers filed for unemployment insurance benefits through the Connecticut Department of Labor (DOL) due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. As people anxiously await to receive funds, DOL employees are coming into the office and working tirelessly to assist people with filing and processing their claims, which have peaked to unprecedented levels.
Besides worrying about clients who wait for their benefits to come through, she is concerned about spreading the virus to her family. Mayra lives with her parents – both in their fifties and have asthma and diabetes.
Last December, Mayra donated one of her kidneys to her father who received a transplant. Her father also underwent heart surgery last year and eye surgery more recently.
“Going to work is a little bit scary because in my house the only one going out is me. I’m always afraid that being exposed to other people at work is going to cause my Dad to contract the virus.”
At this time, Mayra has not accumulated enough sick time to stay home so she is taking extra measures to protect her father. After work she puts away her clothes, to prevent the spread of contamination, and takes a shower.
She has not gone anywhere besides the office and avoids any direct contact with her father. She wishes DOL would step up to protect her like she is trying to do for her family.
“We are safer if we are working from home. And we would still be pushing all this work out. But if that one person at work gets sick then all of us are going to be hurt.”
Mayra believes acquiring proper technology, such as laptops and headsets, would enable her and her colleagues to work from home while keeping their families safe. In addition, she highlights the need for training to process claims – something that would expand the scope of her work beyond answering phones and chip away at the current backlog.
Despite the current challenges she faces, Cruz is hopeful working with her union will help change working conditions during this crisis and serve as an example of how to prepare for future pandemics. At the end of the day, she wants to be working. And she sees the value her work brings to those in need.
“I had a client today [and] I took time to explain the math and how much he could expect getting back,” Cruz shared. “In Spanish, he said he appreciated my honesty and that I explained how everything worked. It’s rewarding to hear people say, ‘Thank you for answering’, ‘Thank you for calling me back.’ We go home knowing that we are a part of helping people through this situation.”
“Everyone [at DOL] is doing an amazing job and working so hard,” she said. “We’re all in this together.”
***Note: Since this article was written, the number of employees working at the Waterbury DOL office has downsized to 15. Mayra is currently working from home.
