Even as the New York City Health Department has issued a set of new guidelines to ensure everyone has safe sex during the pandemic, a lawsuit has been filed by out-of-State Medics who were hired by an NYC firm to assist hospitals in the month of March when the Coronavirus outbreak was at its peak - as they put under forced confinement with constant surveillance and was even forced to abstain from having sex.
While the company may or may not have broken the labor laws or violated pay practices accepted by FEMA (as it is on the court to decide), it definitely overlooked the New York City Health Department's new guidelines that in fact wants everyone to have safe sex.
Besides delivering condoms door-to-door, the department also has been encouraging couples to try new creative positions to have safe sex in the times of coronavirus.
Ambulz, which calls itself "a new kind of on-demand ambulance services provider that is providing medical transportation through the use of disruptive technology, better compensation for EMTs and a unique business model that guarantees the highest level of care" is now being sued in a court in Brooklyn.
The EMTs and paramedics who were hired by Ambulz have alleged in their petition filed in Brooklyn Civil Court that the company refused to pay the monitory compensation that they had promised after they began their work while constantly spied on them via GPS and even banned them from drinking or having sex.
It is estimated that over 25,000 out-of-state EMTs and paramedics had come to New York State by April 8 to assist the city hospitals during the pandemic.
In the lawsuit, the EMTs and medics alleged that the hiring firm Ambulz maintained "total control of the movements" adding that the out-of-state workers were tracked via GPS all the time, while were literally imprisoned in the hotel with a guard on duty near the exit to stop anyone from the leaving the hotel without permission.
The Ambulz out-of-state medics were also banned from consuming any form of alcohol and were asked not to even have sex.
Twenty-six-year-old James Richard, who is the lead plaintiff in the case, traveled from Tennessee to assist New York hospital when the pandemic was raging in the city alleged that he worked 24/7 as he was promised to be paid on a 24-hour, seven days a week basis.
Throughout the month of April, James was on duty responding to gunshot incidents, heart attacks, and COVID-19 cases, besides assisting the fire department respond to 911 calls.
What is even worse is that James was asked to keep the emergency radio on even when he was not working, the blaring loud calls kept him awake all the time. But what made matters absolutely unjust for frontline workers like James is that the actual pay the company was offering was 1.25 times his regular pay, plus overtime, for seven 12-hour shifts a week, which was than other FEMA responders, James told The New York Post.
When James raised the issue he was asked to either accept it or go home. James stayed as the city then needed more EMT workers, he said.
Sally Abrahamson who is representing James said "Ambulnz promised EMTs and paramedics 24/7 pay only to renege on that once people were deployed to New York City. They did not make, nor did they expect to make, an exorbitant amount of money."
Abrahamson emphasized that these frontline workers put their lives at risk and they should at least be paid what was promised.
Ambulnz, however, has maintained that the lawsuit was 'without merit' and their pay package was fair.
