Baltimore leaders spar over health insurance for all DPW workers a year after on-the-job death

The death of a Baltimore sanitation worker in extreme heat one year ago this week exposed several alarming issues, including the lack of health insurance for more than 130 frontline solid waste workers.

Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry proposed a simple fix: enroll everyone. 

But the mayor's representatives voted it down, citing ongoing union contract negotiations. 

Employee's on-the-job death 

Ronald Silver II's family has been fighting to make things better for his colleagues since he collapsed and died after a day picking up trash in the sweltering heat in August 2024. 

His mother, Faith Johnson, told WJZ, "He was not replaceable."     

Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming had been looking into problems within the Department of Public Works since before Silver's death. 

One of her reports uncovered a lack of awareness among some workers about health insurance.       

"Ron Silver did not have health insurance," Cumming told WJZ Investigates. "He did not have health insurance, and 135 other guys were also in that same condition, not having health insurance."

Cumming said one co-worker only discovered he was uninsured after he was hospitalized.

"When we talked to them, so many thought they had health insurance because they thought it was automatic," Cumming said. "It's not."

Cumming also found that some workers were not even receiving the $2,500 stipends they are entitled to for not taking the insurance.

She noted that is a significant amount of money for employees, some of whom make less than $40,000 annually. 

"Picking up the trash in Baltimore City is absolutely an essential part of keeping the city running the way it does," Cumming said. 

A possible solution

Comptroller Bill Henry's solution was to sign up every city employee for the least expensive health insurance plan automatically. 

If they chose to opt out, they could, but at least they would be covered.

"We took that report. We came up with a solution," Henry said.  

Henry said the city already budgets roughly $14,000 per employee for those benefits, so it would not cost anything.

He even proposed giving a $5,000 credit for those who opt out of insurance. 

"That is the city making the point—the point in its own policy—that we, the city, want you to be covered by health insurance," Henry said. "Frankly, I thought this would be easier than it turned out to be."

Voted down 

The three members of the city's spending board appointed by the mayor voted against Henry's proposal. 

Some believed it would interfere with ongoing union negotiations and that the spending board may not be the appropriate venue to create city policy. 

Mayor Brandon Scott's administration noted they were able to enroll all but five of those flagged in the inspector general's report through intensive outreach.

"This notion that nothing changed, I want to address that. That is not true," said the city's chief administrative officer, Faith Leach, during a lengthy discussion at the Board of Estimates. 

But the comptroller pushed back. 

Henry fears that, with the large turnover in DPW, tragedy on the job could happen again.

"There is no good reason for them to oppose this. The only reason we can come up with is it wasn't their idea," Henry said.

Inspector General Cumming said she was "very disappointed." She noted, "The fact is that it was proven that we have a problem."

Baltimore's mayor responds 

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Mayor Brandon Scott why the city does not automatically enroll all employees into a health insurance plan.

"We have negotiations with our labor unions, and they come to the table with things they want to negotiate," Mayor Scott said. "This is one of the things that is a negotiable thing for them. But also even beyond that, I want to be very clear that our employees, including ones in public works, they're smart, and they make the decisions on what they believe is best for them and their families, right? And when you look at—even after the things that happened last year—we went back and offered, some folks still decided not to."

Ronald Silver's family reacted through their lawyer, Thiru Vignarajah. 

"It is baffling that the mayor and the city of Baltimore would not want every one of its employees, especially those who face such difficult work conditions, to have health insurance," Vignarajah said. "Here is just another example of them dropping the ball when they could have easily done the right thing."

Vignarajah recently announced that the Silver family intends to sue the city over civil rights violations. 

What's next? 

The comptroller still believes signing everyone up is the easiest solution, but he said it is pointless to bring it to a vote again because he would lose. 

"The idea that we would let anybody go out there without health benefits that they've earned just because we didn't feel like changing the rules to make it easier for them to get those benefits—that to me is kind of disappointing," Henry said. 

Of the Scott administration, Henry said, "They've made their point that they don't want to do it this way."

It could still be brought up through the city council. 

The administration promised to continue with outreach efforts to make sure every employee is aware of their benefits.