Larry Woodruff would rather exhaust all his vacation days than report to his job at a precision ball manufacturer under a statewide order shutting down non-essential businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 61-year-old Washtenaw County man doesn’t want to risk his health as the number of COVID-19 cases increases exponentially in Michigan. Woodruff is thankful that he has enough vacation days to last until Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order requiring people to stay home is set to expire but worries his employer isn’t taking precautions ordered by the governor to protect his co-workers.
“It’s just all about the money; They don’t care about our lives,” Woodruff said. “I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want to die or get lung damage from this god awful virus. I don’t think our company is taking this seriously.”
Whitmer’s order, which took effect Tuesday, requires most businesses and organizations to send their employees home until April 13. However, it includes exemptions for “essential” employees, jobs related to public safety, health care and other “critical” industries, their suppliers and other distributors.
Businesses that fail to comply with the governor’s executive order could face a misdemeanor, $500 fine and 90 days in jail for each violation. The Attorney General’s Office -- which initially fielded tips on its consumer hotline -- now urges workers who feel their employer is violating the governor’s order to contact local law enforcement.
That left LuAnn Turnage, 63, in an endless loop of phone calls this week to find out why her husband, a maintenance worker for a Kalamazoo-area property management company, has to work. Turnage asked MLive to keep her husband’s employer discrete to prevent retaliation.
Local police told Turnage to call the Attorney General’s Office. She spent hours on the phone, only to be told her county sheriff’s office is handling complaints.
“My husband’s 53, he has uncontrolled high blood pressure, and he smokes like a fish so I know his lungs aren’t as good; I am 63 and I have heart failure and asthma," Turnage said. “I’m scared to death he is going to bring it home here."
"I’m fully prepared to call the police. Except they keep telling me to call somebody else.”
Calhoun County Sheriff Matt Saxton, the incoming executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs Association, said police are working to get up to speed on how the order should be enforced. However, he doesn’t expect officers to make many arrests during the next three weeks.
“This whole situation is a fluid situation, it changes by the hour,” Saxton said. “For the most part, I see law enforcement trying to educate folks on what that order actually means as opposed to enforcement of that."
Bob Stevenson, head of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, said law enforcement officials don’t have enough information to enforce Whitmer’s order.
“Originally the AG’s office was going to be handling the complaints; I think they quickly realized by the number of calls they were getting, that they just didn’t have the staff to investigate all of them," Stevenson said.
“We’re expecting the AG’s office to issue clarification and guidance for interpreting the executive order. We’re working with them to get that information and get it out to our police agencies and we’ll get out within a day or so here.”
A wide range of businesses across the state are justifying their continued operation for a variety of reasons.
Woodruff’s employer, Industrial Tectonics Inc., could not be reached for comment. “Critical" manufacturers are allowed to stay open under Whitmer’s order, which applies to businesses that create products for medical supply chains, transportation, energy, food and a variety of other industries.
The order prohibits work that isn’t “necessary to sustain or protect life.” Attorney General spokesperson Kelly Rossman-McKinney said some businesses have been trying to stretch that definition, including a window replacement company.
“The employer said they were essential because people need vitamin D,” she said.
Stevenson said police in one city have been posting cease and desist letters on the doors of businesses that aren’t complying with the order. This includes some fitness centers, sporting equipment stores, craft and fabric businesses and hardware stores.
Turnage’s husband, the apartment complex maintenance worker, was also designated an “essential employee.” Meanwhile, office staff for the property management company were sent home.
Stevenson said police were called by another employee who argued against being designated an “essential employee. Cases like that are much harder for officers to work out while they wait for guidance from the Attorney General, he said.
Stevenson urged people to call police stations instead of dialing 911. Emergency call centers have been “overrun” with calls about the executive order, he said.
“People call and say my neighbor is violating, they’re outside, they have people over,” Stevenson said. “That’s not what a 911 call center is for and it’s putting a burden on them.”
The Grand Rapids Police Department is asking residents to use discretion before reporting a possible violation. Grand Rapids police Sgt. John Wittkowski said the department is asking for residents to limit complaints the “most egregious” incidents, such as large house parties, open restaurant dining areas or mass gatherings.
Woodruff said he reported his employer to police in his area but was told there wasn’t anything that could be done. He tried to call the Attorney General’s Office but the hotline set up to collect consumer complaints experienced technical issues from a flood of calls.
“I have faith in the governor and attorney general, but they need to know these places are staying open,” Woodruff said. “Nobody is enforcing it as of now.”
The Attorney General’s Office closed its hotline to people reporting possible violations after fielding hundreds of calls from confused employers and employees that overwhelmed phone systems Tuesday.
“I think it’s a difficult executive order to really wrap your arms around,” Rossman-McKinney said. “We are working very closely with the governor’s office. Every instance we get a call asking about whether or not businesses essential is being first reviewed by our office and then shared with the governor’s office so that we can begin to get some clarity around the executive order.”
The governor’s office directed employers and employees confused about whether they should remain open to submit questions via email to LEO-Coronavirus@michigan.gov. A spokesperson did not respond to additional questions about how information is being given to law enforcement officials.
The Michigan House Republican caucus released a list of essential services that should remain open under the executive order, and the state also released an online list of commonly asked questions.
The coronavirus is an infectious respiratory disease that can cause serious illness or death. It is particularly harmful among vulnerable populations and people with compromised immune systems, but can also affect younger people.
COVID-19 is a new strain of the coronavirus that can easily spread from person to person if proper social distancing guidelines are not followed. There is no approved vaccine or cure for the disease.
Saxton said police across the state remain focused on educating employers and the public.
“At the end of the day, the top enforcement official in the state of Michigan is the Attorney General,” Saxton said. “She would enforce the governor’s executive orders and interpret the governor’s executive orders."
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