Kevista Coffee Shop in Bend was fined by Oregon regulators over disregarding COVID-19 rules. It has appealed the citations and is awaiting a hearing before the Workers' Compensation Board. The fines for Kevista's three "willfull" citations — for allowing customers to eat and drink inside, for not enforcing mask mandates and for lacking an infection control plan — total $116,470 and are among the largest statewide.

Central Oregon businesses were fined $298,000 for workplace safety violations issued during the heart of the pandemic, but only 11.7% of those fines have been paid.

Just slightly more than half of the 35 citations have been appealed before the Workers’ Compensation Board in Oregon, the board that hears appeals to Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Administration cases. The rest of the COVID-19-related citations were either appealed and settled or were paid, said Aaron Corvin, Oregon OSHA spokesman.

While the state lifted the last remaining health restrictions in medical facilities earlier this month, dozens of businesses statewide still owe on these COVID-19 workplace safety violations. Since March 2020, OSHA issued 256 citations and received 32,000 complaints in Oregon for violations of COVID-19 worker protections. Nearly three-fourths of those citations were not appealed by the employers, Corvin said.

“By and large, most employers did the right thing over the course of the pandemic,” Corvin said.

“We worked really hard to do our best to protect workers, and that’s our mission. That’s what we’re all about.”

Typically it takes more than 18-30 months to reach an appeal resolution before an administrative law judge, Corvin said.

“When the pandemic occurred, in-person hearings were discontinued,” Corvin said in an email. “At the same time, any pre-pandemic case that was pending was also delayed because of the impact of the pandemic. This situation created a backlog of pre-pandemic and COVID-related cases. “

Most of the Central Oregon businesses have paid their fines. A few, like the Bend Kevista Coffee and Black Bear diner owners in Redmond and Bend, have appealed the citations and are awaiting a hearing before the Workers’ Compensation Board.

The owners of the diners, Bucc ‘N Dulge Inc., were cited for allowing in-person dining and for failing to establish a safety committee. The two violations carry a penalty of $35,600. The owners appealed the citations.

The fines for Kevista’s three “willfull” citations — for allowing customers to eat and drink inside, for not enforcing mask mandates and for lacking an infection control plan — total $116,470 and are among the largest statewide.

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According to the Oregon Secretary of State, the Kevista owners are Kevin and Krista Laulinger. The Bulletin was unable to speak to the owners of Kevista.

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The owners of Black Bear diner did not return phone calls to The Bulletin for this story.

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“This is due process,” Corvin said. “The penalties are part of our enforcement program. The goal is to move the employer in the direction of complying with our workplace health and safety standards.

“We focused on doing our best to protect workers during this unprecedented time in the workplace. We did that in a variety of ways. It wasn’t just enforcement. We helped employers understand the requirements.

OSHA worked through the appeals process with the Central Christian School in Redmond following a February 2022 violation for failing to ensure staff and students wore facial coverings indoors. Penalties of $10,920 were initially issued, but through a settlement, the school paid $8,900 and upheld the face-covering requirement imposed by state health officials.

Likewise, the penalty was reduced for Sno Cap Drive In LLC in Redmond for willfully failing to follow the ban on in-person dining in March 2021, after the business filed an appeal and a settlement was reached. The business agreed to pay $4,454 over a three-year period.

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