According to the Tampa Bay Times, Shayne Wanstall and Tavaris Reynolds worked as culinary supervisors at Nutrition Systems, a meal prep program for fitness and health. The two are suing CSC Productions LLC, which operates Nutrition Systems.
The lawsuits, which were filed in Hillsborough County earlier this month, stated company CFO Georgene Roberta Rose Rowland and an unnamed member of upper management informed employees via email that executive chef Mark Davis had tested positive for COVID-19 on October 26.
According to the suits, on the day after being informed of the positive COVID-19 test, both Wanstall and Reynolds arrived for their shift at around 4 a.m. local time. They noticed Davis, who worked the night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., leaving the Nutrition Solutions building. Wanstall and Reynolds noticed the kitchen was left in a “filthy state,” according to the complaint.
“Dirty food preparation tables, no sanitizer available, and pots of boiling food remain cooking, no one was in the building ensuring proper timing of cooking and/or maintain temperature control of the food,” the suit said.
Despite testing positive for the novel virus, which has infected more than more than 1.3 million people in Florida, Davis was still allowed “to continue to prepare food and ship the prepared meals to clients.”
In addition to the unsanitary kitchen conditions, the suit also alleged that Reynolds went outside to discuss the situation with other employees, when Davis returned from the grocery store and asked for help unloading his truck, which was described as being “insanitary and contaminated from being handled by Mr. Davis while he was COVID-19 positive.”
After Reynolds, Wanstall and several other employees refused to help bring the food into the kitchen, Davis said “if the employees did not obtain the contaminated food from the contaminated truck, go into the contaminated building to prepare and package for sale, they were fired and to not worry about coming back,” according to the suit.
After refusing to bring the food in again, Reynolds, Wanstall and three other employees were fired immediately.
The suit claimed that the terminated employees were retaliated against, according to Florida’s Whistleblower Act. The statute prevents agencies from retaliating against employees that report violations of public health measures to the appropriate agency.
Prior to the suit filed earlier this month, Nutrition Solutions was temporarily shut down by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in May 2019, after they failed to pass a health code inspection.
Newsweek reached out to the lawyer representing Wanstall and Reynolds, as well as Nutrition Solutions for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
