Accident Fund faces state probe over workplace safety

TUESDAY, Dec. 15 — The parking garage attached to the Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America headquarters is an oddity.

While many businesses in downtown Lansing are closed and much of the city remains stuck in a pandemic-induced lockdown, the Accident Fund’s employee ramp is still keeping busy. Dozens of cars lined the lower level every day last week. Hundreds are still coming in to work.

And now state officials are looking into whether the company — one of the largest employers in Lansing — may be running afoul of state orders designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and whether it’s truly necessary for nearly 200 of its employees to report to work every day.

“We’re averaging a new COVID-19 case there every single day,” one Accident Fund employee told City Pulse under the condition he could remain anonymous. “Sometimes there are two or three cases reported in a day. They’ve moved us around and spaced us apart, but I’d still say that 75% of the people coming into the building everyday should not be required to come in.”

A company spokesman said that about 60% of Accident Fund’s workforce in Lansing has been allowed to work from home during the pandemic. The other 40% — estimated to be at least 178 employees — are still required to commute to the office in order to maintain their employment.

Company officials declined to provide a precise employee total to City Pulse this week, but records from the Lansing Economic Area Partnership showed it employed 447 people last year.

When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders differentiated between “critical infrastructure workers,” the insurance salespeople at Accident Fund were deemed as essential. Still, the company sent home 60% of its staff and enacted a series of safety protocols for the others.

Temperature screenings, masks and social distancing are now common inside the building.

The latest epidemic orders from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, however, don’t make the same distinction for essential services. Those simply state that all work should be done from home unless it is “strictly necessary” for an employee to be in the office.

That strict requirement for in-person work is a carve-out for food service or auto assembly workers, or other jobs involving protected data that cannot be accessed remotely. It shouldn’t be construed as permitting in-person work only because remote options are inconvenient or costly.

And therein lies the problem for several Accident Fund employees: The company has refused to explain why some of its employees must come to work while others can work from home. And at least one employee suspects the inconsistent practices may be out of line with current state law.

“A number of colleagues both in my department and across the company are fed up,” he said.

Emails obtained by City Pulse show that the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration received an employee complaint last month of “alleged hazards” at its Grand Avenue headquarters — namely unnecessarily requiring its employees to report to work.

State officials, at the time, deemed the Accident Fund to be “medium or lower exposure risk” and opted against a physical inspection, according to the email. Still, they provided a list of suggestions and “steps you need to take if the allegations are true, so you can prevent your employees from contracting coronavirus and are in compliance with our regulations.”

“If the exposure situation changes or the agency receives additional complaints that employees are at risk, the agency reserves the right to conduct an inspection in the future,” according to one of the emails sent from MIOSHA to company officials at the Accident Fund on Nov. 30.

A state spokesperson confirmed this week that another complaint had been received against the Accident Fund headquarters in Lansing but declined to provide any additional information, except to note that officials are still “processing those complaints as quickly as possible.”

Prior to the pandemic, MIOSHA received an average of 200 monthly complaints and tracked a response time of about five days. Since March, the agency has fielded 11,000 complaints — including 2,800 in November. The backlog is leading to some processing delays, officials said.

Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said the recent complaints against the company fall outside of her authority. Companies can have several reasons for determining which employees must report to work. And the Health Department isn’t prepared to evaluate them, she said.

“That’s MIOSHA,” Vail said. “Not my call to second guess their workflow and processes.”

In the meantime, company officials there have declined to comment on the allegations, except to note that the Accident Fund has instituted “safeguards” that meet or exceed recommended guidelines from local, state and federal health authorities. The company will also “maintain and adjust” those practices as necessary to “ensure the continued health and safety” of its staff.