Hearst Castle employees are working on site during coronavirus closure. Are they safe?
Hearst Castle closed on March 15, responding to the global coronavirus pandemic that has paralyzed cities, states and countries and shut down economies.
As a result, hundreds of employees at the San Simeon estate and within the county’s state parks district could have been out of work, with no tours to give, no tickets to sell and fewer tasks to perform.
Later in March, various state park campgrounds also closed. Some of the district’s coastal park pullouts and parking areas were blocked off to help discourage violations of the 6-foot social distancing mandate and make large gatherings of strangers more difficult.
The closure has had a devastating fiscal impact.
Dan Falat, superintendent of the state park district that includes Hearst Castle, estimates that, based on scheduled tour capacities for that approximately three-week period, the agency has lost approximately $844,000 in expected tour-ticket sales and concessionaire revenue.
Some San Luis Obispo Coast District employees are continuing to do their usual work, Falat said via phone, including security, public safety, law enforcement, housekeeping, maintenance and education.
But other district staffers who wanted to work were assigned to other tasks.
According to Falat, that decision kept those employees on the job and on the payroll.
“Throughout this entire ordeal, it’s been my goal to keep my staff as employed as possible” while still protecting their health, he said. “I think we are doing everything within our power to maintain social distancing and assure we have a safe and secure work environment.”
Some of those assignments were related to the workers’ normal jobs. Guides did research, and helped to create online programs to educate and entertain housebound students and adults.
Falat said the first of those programs, “Castle Art and Architecture,” was aimed at sixth through eighth graders.
That March program was designed to accommodate from 100 to 150 participants. Instead, 200 people enrolled, he said, and social media reviews were enthusiastic.
“My interpreters and guide staff provide education and interpretation when the public is here,” Falat said.
What they’re doing now, he said, is “helping people get through what are difficult times for everybody, including school-age children and adults, parents trying to support their children’s education at home …”
“Folks are very appreciative of being able to experience the park in a new but confined way,” Falat said, “and it’s a great opportunity for kids sitting at the table or the desk in their room, experiencing parks in a new way through a new outlet.”
Falat said he and his staff are looking at ways to continue and expand those offerings — both about Hearst Castle and also the district’s coastal parks that stretch from near Ragged Point to Montana de Oro State Park.
Falat said another rationale behind the modified work routines and keeping staffers on the payroll.
“We know at some point we will be reopening,” he said, and to do that, they have to “stay prepared for now, a week from now, a month from now or whenever that happens.”
That means retaining their highly trained staff for the time when “we expect a high demand for the castle and for the coast,” Falat said.
He added that “we’re doing the best we can to support our staff and the community so we can resume operations when the time comes.”
Not all district employees are happy about their options or their new work assignments, however.
Some complaints and concerns have surfaced online and in emails to The Cambrian. For various reasons, the senders opted to remain anonymous.
The crux of the complaints appears to be the perception that the health of the employees, especially the guides, is being put at risk to do nonessential busy work when the castle is closed for tours.
One online poster said guides “go up to the Castle and, in close quarters, study about the facility and its collection. This type of work could be accomplished in the safety of working from home.”
Another person said in an email that the duties range from “filing, archiving, working on tour manuals, cleaning the guide office…answering telephones or … studying.” Management is “risking people’s health for busy work,” the email continued.
Some say Hearst Castle management should temporarily discontinue the guide-training classes.
Falat said they’ve modified those classes so students can observe physical distancing. “No one’s being forced to be here,” he said.
Critics say the financial health of those who choose not to work is being endangered, because they’re not being granted paid administrative time off. That is an option for some other state employees under certain restrictive circumstances, such as for those who are under mandatory quarantine, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“If a guide staff member chooses to follow the state shelter-at-home mandate, they have to use their own personal leave balances to do so,” one critic said via email, although some newer employees haven’t yet accumulated sufficient leave balances to make a difference.
“They’re having to make the decision of risking their health and the health of their families,” the person wrote, or not make “the money they need to make ends meet.”
Unemployment insurance may not be an option, one of the emails said, because it could compromise employees’ health and retirement benefits, and the unemployment payments “could be denied to them because it could be claimed” that they’re refusing shifts.
Falat said he’s “following the direction of Cal HR, state parks and the governor” in making his decisions, and that each employee’s situation is different.
“We see the unemployment figures,” he said. “This has a lot of moving parts. We can accomplish our mission with a staff that’s willing and able to keep working.
“The goal is to keep people employed,” Falat said. “It doesn’t mean we’ll be perfect, but we’ll adapt, follow policy, follow the law and maintain government and business continuity. I think we’re doing all that to the best of our abilities.”
