Valero’s HQ in San Antonio fully staffed despite COVID
When COVID-19 first hit San Antonio, most of the city’s major corporations sent their employees home to work remotely to reduce the spread of the virus.
For much of the last two months, however, Valero Energy Corp. has had its entire headquarters staff back in the office, even as dozens of employees at the site have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.
Since June 1, roughly 1,800 employees have been working from Valero’s Northwest Side campus, where 43 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, according to company memos sent to employees.
Thirty-two of those cases have cropped up in the last month, according to a document — a running list of confirmed cases — that
Valero officials have shared with employees.
The first employee at Valero’s campus to contract the virus tested positive on March 19.
Headquarters employees,
mostly white-collar workers, were allowed to work from home beginning in mid-to-late March. Nearly all of them did, according to employees who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to speak with news media.
However, Valero officials eventually directed employees to return to the office by June 1.
Several employees said they’ve asked why they’re barred from working from home, but haven’t gotten clear answers.
“They won’t tell us. All they say is ‘Valero is not a work-from-home company — it’s not in our culture,’'' one employee said. “They sent some corporate email saying, ‘We work stronger together’ or something like that. Our CEO was adamant we need to be in the office.”
Joseph Gorder, chairman and CEO of Valero since 2014, is a member of President Donald Trump’s Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, which were established in April to help the nation recover from the coronavirus-driven economic crash.
Valero officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The world’s second-largest independent oil refiner,
Valero produces gasoline, jet fuel and other refined products, and is designated an essential business that’s part of the country’s critical infrastructure. The company operates 15 petroleum refineries and employs 10,000 workers globally.
Employees at the headquarters said they were able to conduct their jobs without a hitch while working remotely.
Most of the employees at the headquarters work in areas such as human resources, legal, accounting, business development and procurement.
“I agree there are positions within Valero that are more in an operational standpoint, and they may not be able to work remotely,” another employee said. “But I would say, overall, the majority of positions, at least at the San Antonio office, we could do remotely without any trouble or without any issues.”
The state of Texas has put out guidelines to help employers as they reopen offices. It recommends employers clean and sanitize their facilities, screen employees with temperature checks and require face coverings. The guidelines say businesses should attempt to stagger workers’ schedules so fewer people are in the office, and also “continue to encourage individuals to work remotely if possible.”
When they returned to Valero headquarters, workers said they received bags containing hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes and a couple of masks. The company has hand-sanitizing stations throughout the campus, and signage is posted at entrances urging employees to socially distance. Employees’ temperatures are not checked.
Mask-wearing was initially optional, though the company on June 29 issued a directive requiring employees to wear face masks when unable to socially distance. “They started asking people to wear masks if they couldn’t socially distance, but I will say no one was wearing masks, absolutely no one,” another employee said. “And forget about social distancing. You’re walking through the halls where you’re a foot away from someone, walking down stairs, going to the bathroom, break rooms — you’re constantly being exposed.”
Employees at Valero expressed concern that they would be the next worker to contract the novel coronavirus, potentially putting their household family members at risk.
“We’re around (1,800 employees) that are then going back out through the community, going to grocery stores, whatever they’re doing, exposing not just the employees but the whole community to this,” an employee said.
Metro Health officials said that as long as companies follow the city’s mandated guidelines — such as implementing and maintaining a mask-wearing policy — they can’t force an employer to have their employees work remotely.
“We currently have widespread community transmission and every place/location that people have been in close quarters without practicing social distancing and use of face coverings is at risk for transmission/infection,” Metro Health spokeswoman Michelle Vigil said in an e-mail. “As long as a business is in compliance and ensures their employee’s safety, they are allowed to operate.”
An employee said office morale has dropped in recent weeks as the number of confirmed cases among employees at the site has risen.
“For a company that always says ‘employees are our number one asset, we value safety’, all of that has gone out the door. We’re just not even being treated like people. Our concerns are falling on deaf ears,” the employee said.