Chartwells workers allege lack of food safety training

Management claims all associates receive ongoing training during employment

Following student concerns about food safety, The Mercury obtained evidence that
suggests many Chartwells workers did not receive state-mandated food safety
training until earlier this month.

In Texas, the certification is considered the responsibility
of the employer and is typically administered through a third-party company and
must be obtained within 60 days of hire. In a Jan. 16 interview, Chartwells’
Resident District Manager Steven Goodwin said he was unsure of the specific
provider Chartwells utilized to certify employees. In a Jan. 23 email, a
corporate spokesperson later said the UTD operation utilized a training company
called ServSafe.

The Mercury
compiled a list of 101 Chartwells employees who were employed during the fall
2018 semester. When checked against a public database maintained by ServSafe,
only 15 of the employees on the list held valid training certificates, 11 of
whom were managers.

Eighty-five of the 101 employees worked in jobs in which
they were expected to handle food on a regular basis.

The Mercury also spoke to 10 current and
former Chartwells employees across campus about their onboarding and training
process. The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing concerns
over reprisal.

Graphic by Alesandra Bell | Mercury Staff.

Only two of
the 10 said that they received any formal food safety training within 60 days
of their hire date, as required by state law. Five others had recently
completed training through a different company but only after the 60-day
window, according to official hire dates and food handler licenses obtained by The Mercury. All five
remained uncertified for several months after the state deadline.

The certificate, which employees earn after completing a two-hour
training course, is required by state law of any person who handles unpackaged
food. Bill Alsup, the director of Richardson’s health department, said while
much of the course material is common sense, the training provides an important
standard in preventing issues like cross-contamination and foodborne
illness. 

“There’s a
lot of confusion, especially with gloves, for example,” Alsup said. “People
think, ‘Well, as long as I’m wearing gloves, I can touch anything I want.’
Well, you can’t go from preparing raw hamburgers to mixing salads with the same
gloves.”

A student
worker said in her time at Dining Hall West, she was never asked to complete a
food safety training program or asked to provide proof of a previous
certificate until very recently, despite regularly handling food.

“None of us
knew when to use the sanitizer or how to do the towels or the gloves — like
when do you (wear) them and when do you throw them,” the student said. “Only
when you stay for a while do you learn that.”

A former
student worker in Dining Hall West said that generally, the only training she’d
received came from her fellow student workers. Occasionally, a manager would
come by and let her know if she was doing something incorrectly.

Goodwin
said all Chartwells employees are held to strict food safety standards, which
he said surpassed the state-mandated certificate.

“In
addition to the food handler’s certificate … we do ongoing training with our
associates every day and all day,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin
listed several training events, but declined to describe the trainings in
detail, stating that the  information was
proprietary.

In a Feb. 15 meeting,
Chartwells’ Director of Operations Casey Teng said he had recently purchased
training modules for hourly employees from a new certification provider in
January but said he didn’t remember the company’s name. Goodwin later confirmed
in a Feb. 17 email that the new company was Learn2Serve.

According
to an internal memo, workers were given a deadline of Jan. 24 to complete the
state-mandated training through Learn2Serve. However, several employees said
they did not receive the memo until weeks after the Jan. 24 deadline.

Chartwells
personnel declined to provide a list of certificates, stating that the
information is proprietary, but said all of its employees hold valid
certificates. Learn2Serve does not maintain a publicly searchable database of
certificates. An official at the Texas Department of State Health Services, the
agency responsible for enforcing food handling laws, said the health department
does not maintain a centralized list of certified employees.

“Some
associates may have received their certification from other companies prior to
joining Chartwells,” said a spokesperson for Chartwells’ corporate
communications in an email. “All certifications, regardless of where they were
from, are stored electronically by Chartwells.”

Only one of
the 10 employees interviewed said he had possessed a certification prior to his
Chartwells job. He said during the course of his employment at Chartwells’
Starbucks location last semester, he was never asked to produce the
certificate.

Several
employees said international students make up the majority of student workers
and that Chartwells represented not only their very first food service job, but
their first job in the U.S. Of the 10 employees interviewed, six were
international student workers, all of whom said they had not received any
training or certifications prior to starting at Chartwells.

Alsup said
while most food establishments don’t generally have issues with compliance,
there are factors that can make it difficult for inspectors to detect issues in
certain companies, such as high turnover rates and large employee bases.

“I can tell you that we don’t
sit down and (say), ‘OK, what’s this person’s name and where’s this person’s
card,’ because that could potentially take hours,” Alsup said. “We’ll look at
the cards and make sure they have an appropriate number of cards for the number
of employees that they have.”

Alsup said
inspectors rely on the employer to provide accurate employee information and
valid certificates. 

Food
handler training is listed as a “priority foundation item” on the inspection
rubric, but in Richardson, establishments only lose a maximum of one point on
health inspection reports for uncertified or improperly trained employees.
Alsup said that nevertheless, there are legal consequences if the problem isn’t
resolved within a timely manner, including the issuance of a class C
misdemeanor and a fine.

Alsup said if customers notice a potential health issue,
they should file a complaint through the city’s website and include all known
details. If a complaint is deemed credible, a health inspector is dispatched to
complete a complaint inspection. Alsup said the results of complaint
inspections are not always available online but can be requested through the
city’s open records office.