photo by: Conrad Swanson/Journal-World File Photo

The former General Dynamics call center facility at East Hills Business Park, which is now run by Maximus, is pictured in this file photo from 2017.

UPDATED STORY (03-25-20): East Hills Business Park call center now says employee lied about testing positive for COVID-19

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ORIGINAL STORY:

One of Lawrence’s largest private employers is temporarily closing one of its buildings in the East Hills Business Park seemingly over COVID-19 concerns, but its facility next door is remaining open.

The call center operator Maximus sent a notice to employees Monday afternoon that it was temporarily closing its Noria Road call center “for the health and safety of our employees.”

The company, however, also operates an adjacent building that is just west of the facility that is set to be closed. In an employee message that was shared with the Journal-World, company officials said employees in that building — known as the Greenway building — should continue to report to work.

The employee message said the Noria Road building was being closed to “allow sanitation to occur and in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.”

The company said it was unclear when the building would reopen. The message said “emergency paid sick leave will be in effect and a paid at 100% of the regular rate of pay.”

Employees who called the Journal-World and asked to remain anonymous said they were nervous about the Greenway building remaining open. They said there is a significant number of employees who cross back and forth between the two buildings.

The Journal-World called Maximus to request more information on why only one of the two buildings was being closed, but an individual who answered the phone said he was not authorized to speak on the matter. The Journal-World left a message with Maximus’ corporate spokesperson.

Maximus took over the call center operations that previously were owned by General Dynamics. It wasn’t immediately clear how many employees Maximus has at the East Hills Business Park locations. But when General Dynamics operated the facility, it generally was considered the largest private employer in the county. The buildings housed about 2,100 employees, according to data kept by the Lawrence chamber of commerce.

The call centers may be considered “essential businesses” that are allowed to operate with an exemption to Douglas County’s recently issued stay-at-home order. The call center has government contracts to provide customer service for Medicare, the health insurance marketplace and other similar work.

An employee who called the Journal-World said the call center had provided more space for customers to practice social distancing at work, however, the latest closing sparked concerns about whether there had been a case or an event that necessitated the need for a deep sanitation effort at the Noria building.