E-mail Correspondences with Tobacco Companies (North Carolina Department Of Labor)

Webform submission from: Public Records Request
Submitted on Wed, 07/13/2022 - 22:40
Submitted values are:
Contact
Greta Moran
MuckRock News, DEPT MR131353
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, Massachusetts. 02115
requests@muckrock.com (mailto:requests@muckrock.com)
617-299-1832 Area of interest
Occupational Safety and Health
OSH needed information
Name of Company Inspected/Investigated
Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC. Imperial Tobacco PLC, OSH The requested file is currently under informal conference or contestment, and this request is being made by the company or the company’s attorney?
No Specific Information Requested
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
I would like to request all of the agency's e-mail correspondences with any of the follow tobacco companies, Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC. Imperial Tobacco PLC, between January 1, 2020 and present.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.
Sincerely,
Greta Moran
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ (https://www.muckrock.com/

Greta Moran
MuckRock News, DEPT MR131353
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, Massachusetts. 02115
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Ms. Moran,
You submitted a public records request to the NC Department of Labor on 07/13/2022 regarding Occupational Safety and Health inspections performed on Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC, and Imperial Tobacco PLC.
It is my understanding that you have been provided the OSH inspection information from PSIM, but an additional part of your requests was "all of the agency's e-mail correspondences with any of the follow tobacco companies, Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC. Imperial Tobacco PLC, between January 1, 2020 and present." Based on what you have requested, I have to run email searches separate from the OSH inspection information because emails are maintained in a separate system. Due to the sensitive nature of emails, I am the only authorized person within the agency with all email access who may run such a search.
To date, I have attempted to run the requested company names in a myriad of ways, but because of the commonality of several words (e.g., alliance, brands, tobacco) and your request for "all of the agency's email correspondence" (no specific NC Dept of Labor employee), I am getting thousands of emails that include those words; further, the search must be run through all 350+ NCDOL employees, so each search is taking several hours to run. I then have to review the emails to see if the email is applicable to your request, such as only referring to "Alliance One International" instead of some other Alliance One reference. I have continued to attempt to refine the searches, in an attempt to produce a more reasonable-sized list. Please be advised that based on my prior attempts, I must advise you that it will take me extensive time to go through such information.
Is there a way you can refine your request or narrow the time frame? Are there any specific NCDOL employees that may have been corresponding with these companies or are there specific email addresses within those named companies that I could use to refine the search? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

________________________________

Email correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized state official.

Ms. Moran,
Per your request submitted below, the attached are OSH investigations that fell within the scope of your request for "Email Correspondence for Alliance One and Related Files". Any additional departmental emails are being researched and processed by our Legal Affairs Division. A member of their staff will be in contact with you regarding their research.
Thanks
Rose Gray
Rose.gray@labor.nc.gov<mailto:Rose.gray@labor.nc.gov>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted on Wed, 07/13/2022 - 22:40
Submitted values are:
Contact
Greta Moran
MuckRock News, DEPT MR131353
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, Massachusetts. 02115
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>
617-299-1832
Area of interest
Occupational Safety and Health
OSH needed information
Name of Company Inspected/Investigated
Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC. Imperial Tobacco PLC,
OSH The requested file is currently under informal conference or contestment, and this request is being made by the company or the company's attorney?
No
Specific Information Requested
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
I would like to request all of the agency's e-mail correspondences with any of the follow tobacco companies, Lorillard, Inc., Alliance One International., Reynolds American Inc., Liggett Vector Brands LLC. Imperial Tobacco PLC, between January 1, 2020 and present.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.
Sincerely,
Greta Moran
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

Rose Gray-Shindler

NC Department of Labor
OSH Division/PSIM Bureau
1101 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699
PSIM Main Line (919)707-7838
Direct Line (919)707-7831 Fax (919)707-7969

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Website: www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.labor.nc.gov/>

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Email correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records law and may be disclosed to third parties.

________________________________

Email correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized state official.

Ms. Moran
I am following up on my email below of December 1.

Is there a way you can refine your request or narrow the time frame?

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

Greta

I am continuing to perform the requested search when feasible. As previously related, some of the runs to include the tobacco companies name produce thousands of results because of similar names (e.g., Imperial or Reynolds), even though I run the searches using quotation marks around the company names. I continue to try different ways to run the searches to produce more reasonable batches through which to search.

As you may know, our agency provides training on green tobacco illness along with other hazards to which agricultural employees may be exposed.

Attached are 3 sets of emails produced from recent searches ("pesticide"; "green tobacco"). You may also want to review the SOAR reports (State OSHA Annual Report) and you may find them here:
SOAR | NC DOL<https://www.labor.nc.gov/document-collection/soar>. In addition, you may want to review the FAME reports NCDOL makes to federal OSHA. Those reports may be found on the federal OSHA website here:
https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/famereport/NC

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

Greta
I am working to complete this today. I have gone through all the search files produced in my efforts except the Alliance One International search; that search produced the largest search file. I am attaching all the emails that I located as of today, which you have not previously been provided by the Planning, Statistics, and Information Management Bureau (PSIM). PSIM is the custodian of all the OSH files.

Please note that some of the emails reference Boiler Safety inspections, which also falls under the jurisdiction of the NC Department of Labor.

I did locate an email containing a Liggett Vector OSH complaint file (#209713353), but the complaint was related to feces that was repeatedly being spread in a bathroom on the site.

Please be advised that this agency also enforces the NC Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA), which may be found here: https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/HTML/byarticle/chapter_95/Article_21.html

I found emails associated to two REDA complaints related to RJ Reynolds. Whereas neither the email nor the complaints referenced green tobacco illness or heat stress, I did want to apprise you of their existence. Those complaint files would have to be requested separately and cannot be released unless they are closed. They would also be redacted prior to being released. The REDA complaint investigations are listed as follows:

1. REDA Complaint # 60897
2. REDA Complaint # 202769

I will be back in touch once I have completed the Alliance One search.

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

Greta
Just as an FYI, most tobacco is grown by growers, then sold to the large tobacco companies. I relate this information to you primarily because the terms you indicated (green tobacco illness, heat stress) probably will have little to no connections directly the listed tobacco companies in relation to potential Occupational Safety and Health complaints.

In relation to that, growers or Farm Labor Contractors (FLC) would be the more likely employer of workers. The FLC’s generally recruit and hire seasonal or temporary agricultural laborers; in addition, they may also transport, house, and provide meals for workers. FLC’s are required to obtain a federal certification: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/agriculture/mspa/farm-labor-contractors. Here is an actual US Department of Labor news release: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20210804-0. Further, H2A workers fare certified under the authority of the US Department of Labor; see this article: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/agriculture/h2a/final-rule

Please also be apprised that NC Department of Labor participates in an advisory capacity to a group that also includes Alliance One International, Inc. The group is the Farm Labor Practices Group (FLPG), which states that it “is a multi-stakeholder initiative, formed in 2012, committed to improving labor practices on farms and thereby enhancing the farmworker’s experience. The FLPG brings together key voices representing different sectors and perspectives, including growers/farmers, worker advocates, manufacturers and others who sell agricultural products, and government agencies. The work of the FLPG is facilitated by a third party, the Keystone Policy Center, and includes the following member organizations.” https://farmlaborpracticesgroup.org/about-us/

https://www.keystone.org/our-work/agriculture/farm-labor-practices-group/

• Alliance One International, Inc. (global HQ is in Morrisville, NC)
• Altria Client Services LLC
• Consulate General of Mexico in Raleigh*
• Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
• North Carolina Agribusiness Council, Inc.*
• North Carolina Agromedicine Institute*
• North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services*
• North Carolina Department of Commerce – Division of Workforce Solutions*
• North Carolina Department of Labor – Agricultural Safety and Health*
• North Carolina Farm Bureau*
• Phillip Morris International (PMI)
• RAI Service Company
• Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina
• Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Inc
• U.S. Department of Labor – Wage and Hour Division
*Advisory member

Beth Rodman, the Bureau Chief of the Agricultural Safety and Health Bureau of the Occupational Safety and Health Division, is the NCDOL employee who participates in FLPG workgroups that meet regularly such as the Training and Education workgroup and the FLC workgroup. In relation to FLPG, she noted that many concerns related to FLCs are outside of the scope of the NC Department of Labor’s statutory authority. Examples include wage issues (because they fall under USDOL and not NCDOL), contractual violations, visa fraud, recruitment concerns, human trafficking (all of which are outside of this agency’s statutory authority). Therefore, there will be multiple emails included related to this group. If you do NOT want any of these emails, please let me know.

I created another pdf that I attempted to attach, but it is too large; I will have to recreate it into smaller files. I will send the final set next week.

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

Greta

I have gone through all searches for Alliance One International, Reynolds American, Liggett Vector Brands, Imperial Tobacco, and Lorillard. I am attaching a set of documents that reference the named entities, which I located today. You have previously been provided all the documents from PSIM. Whereas there were numerous Covid-related complaints, I found no emails between the above-named companies and NCDOL personnel that discussed heat illness, green tobacco illness, pesticide poisoning, breaks aside from the documents previously provided and the one attached. I will attempt one final search this week.

If I can be of further assistance, or if you need additional information, please let me know.

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.

Hi Jillian,

Thank you very much for providing me with these files, and for taking the
time to sort through the documents and provide me with some background
context.

I appreciate this and will let you know if I have further questions.
Best,
Grey Moran
Senior Reporter at *Civil Eats <https://civileats.com/>*
Phone/Signal: 917-405-8270

Greta

I have completed my review of the emails and have found no further emails that match your public records request.

Thank you.

Jill F. Cramer
General Counsel
NC Department of Labor
Direct: 919-707-7710
Main Legal Affairs: 919-707-7713

Mailing Address:
1101 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov<mailto:jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov>

Please visit our website at www.labor.nc.gov<http://www.nclabor.com/>

NOTICE: E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. This e-mail and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone or by electronic mail, and delete this message.