Union claims landlords, contractor violated law in terminating janitors in Rockville - BethesdaMagazine.com
A union is alleging that the landlords of four Rockville office buildings and a new janitorial contractor violated a Montgomery County law that says service workers can retain their jobs for 90 days when a new contractor takes over.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ, which represents service workers on much of the East Coast, contends that 19 janitorial employees were working in the office buildings at 700, 702, 800 and 805 Kings Farm Blvd. in Rockville as of last month.
According to a letter to Montgomery County’s Office of Human Rights on Wednesday, 14 of the workers were employed in three buildings managed by Banyan Street Capital, and were contracted with D.C.-based Busy Bee Environmental Services.
The other five workers were working in the fourth building, managed by American Real Estate Partners (AREP), and were contracted with Bethesda-based Red Coats Inc.
According to the letter, Busy Bee and Red Coats notified the 19 employees and the union in early December that Virginia-based Econo Building Maintenance would be the new contractor in all four buildings, effective Jan. 1.
A letter from Ronda Hurbanek of Banyan Street Capital, dated Nov. 29, to Busy Bee states that its janitorial contract will be canceled on Dec. 31.
The union then sent letters to Hurbanek throughout December, first urging Banyan Street Capital to keep the contract with Busy Bee, then asking it to hire a “responsible contractor” and to offer the workers employment with the new contractor.
Hurbanek could not be reached for comment on Friday or Monday.
The law, passed in 2012, was created to mandate that successor contractors give the workers from the former contractor a 90-day “transition period,” in which they have the opportunity to keep their jobs temporarily. The transition period can be shorter if there is less than 90 days of work in a successor contract.
Last week’s letter from SEIU to the county states that no one from Banyan Street Capital, American Real Estate Partners or Econo contacted them about ending the contracts and that Econo didn’t provide job applications to the 19 workers.
“On Monday, January 3, 2022, representatives of the union went with the incumbent day and evening shift employees to inquire as to whether Econo intended to retain the bargaining unit members,” the letter stated. “At each shift and building, Econo refused to hire any of the incumbent workers, stating that it had brought in a new workforce.”
A woman at Econo who answered the phone on Thursday told a reporter she would pass along his information. As of Monday afternoon, Econo representatives had not responded to a follow-up voicemail from Bethesda Beat.
Julie Karant, a spokeswoman for SEIU, told Bethesda Beat on Thursday that Econo violated Montgomery County’s law protecting displaced service workers by not offering to retain the employees for 90 days.
“This type of situation occurs all the time. And this law is designed specifically to prevent this,” she said.
Additionally, SEIU is alleging that Banyan Street Capital and American Real Estate Partners violated the county’s displaced service workers law in not requesting a list of the workers in the four buildings who were under contract with Red Coats and Busy Bee. The union also stated in its letter that the landlords failed to notify them of the pending termination of the contracts with Red Coats and Busy Bee.
“They’re supposed to call us about the change of contractor. They’re supposed to request a list of employees,” Karant said.
SEIU requested in its letter to the county that Econo be required to hire all 19 of the workers, and that they be compensated for any lost wages, housing and medical costs. It also requests that Econo not be allowed to bid on any other Montgomery County projects.
Representatives from the Office of Human Rights and the Office of the County Attorney could not be reached for comment Thursday, Friday or Monday.
Dan Schere can be reached at [email protected]
source: https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/union-claims-landlords-contractor-violated-law-in-terminating-janitors-in-rockville/
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