A pair of on-call cleaning attendants at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland say working conditions there are less than fair.
October 16, 2007
PORTLAND, OR - Moumen Al Khach says he is still irked by the treatment he received on May 1st 2007, a day he had to unexpectedly pick his 8-year old daughter up from school because she was very sick. Moumen and his wife are contract employees at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon.
He says that after picking up his sick child, he stopped by the hospital to make arrangements to come in late to work so that he could care for her. He took his daughter with him to his supervisor's office, since she couldn't be left alone in his car. He asked of his supervisor, "Please allow me to start working late or release my wife from her work early because my daughter is very sick and she needs one of us to take care of her."
He says that same supervisor told him "No", that he had to begin work at 2:30 PM as scheduled, and that he could lay his daughter on the couch in the break room until her mom completed her shift at 5:00 PM.
He says he followed the direction as instructed. Recently having immigrated to the U.S. from Syria, Al Khach says he and his wife, a native of the Philippines, did so because they didn’t know the rules and the laws at that time.
"I was afraid to lose my job if I did not follow their instructions; my family would suffer financially, so I did what they told me to do."
He estimates that his daughter had to remain in the break room for over two hours. For part of that time, 30-45 minutes as he recalls, Al Khach attended a meeting in the same break room and was able to sit near her. But he says she was alone for most of the two plus hours.
"My daughter was in pain; she had a fever, throat and mouth infection, crying, lying on the couch alone in the break room without any of her parent for some time."
That is when a friend of the family was able to pick their daughter up. The 8-year old recovered from her illness and ended up being OK, but Al Khach says he fears other immigrant employees, particularly contract employees, could face similar treatment in the future.
Providence St. Vincent Hospital Spokesperson Jean Marks, says there was nothing unusual about what the hospital requested of Mr. Al Khach that day.
"This child was not left alone. We treat all employees the same, and have policies around paid time off - planned and emergency."
Needle incident
Moumen Al Khach says another serious problem he encountered while working at the hospital was being pricked by a needle while performing his job.
Now every few weeks he has to have a blood test, obviously this would be the last thing any employee would want to have happen, and he could become gravely ill, potentially.
Al Khach says his supervisor accused him of handling the needle improperly, when he in fact did follow safety guidelines. The problem he says, arose from another employee putting the needle in the trash where it didn't belong.
"The needle should be placed in a sharp biohazard box container. My family and I were suffering that I may have AIDS or some other serious disease that will may end my life and/or my wife’s life."
In response to the needle incident, Jean Marks said, "We have defined safety precautions related to needles/sharps. All employees receive annual training. Any incident is immediately reported to the manager, and appropriate medical services are provided."
Other Complaints
Al Khach says there is "a lot of discrimination" in the housekeeping department at Providence St. Vincent Hospital. He says they have listened, but failed to address the real issues that the problems stem from.
"They are not fair with the workers. I complained to the department manager, to the HR department and to the hospital manager, but they never come back to me with a fair solution."
Other complaints from Al Khach include not being allowed to wear a jacket to stay warm unless he purchased one from the company, safety practices in the kitchen that have led to several injuries, and being unfairly passed over for positions that would have brought a higher wage.
A hospital spokesperson says they have researched the allegations brought forward by Moumen Al Khach, and that steps are being taken to investigate these complaints.
As to whether his position is in danger over becoming a "whistle blower," Marks said, "We cannot discuss personnel issues. What we can say is that we appreciate employees who bring information forward."
Moumen Al Khach is one man willing to take on a much larger force in order to correct what are in his eyes, a large number of unaddressed problems. He says he only wants to see fairness in the workplace, and he wants the hospital to do what is right, and, just as they expect of their cleaning staff, to clean house when necessary.
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