According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, four in ten workers do not have access to paid sick leave. The Shift Project's March 2020 report examines some of the top retailers and food chains, with a significant percentage of workers not having access to paid sick leave at many of these companies.
Initially, Kroger announced a new paid sick leave policy that would give employees 14 paid days to anyone diagnosed with COVID or placed under mandatory quarantine, a policy that has been described as insufficient. However, after the publishing of the article, Kroger announced an expansion to include anyone told to self-isolate by a health care professional.
Walmart announced a new paid sick leave policy covering employees anyone diagnosed with COVID or placed under mandatory quarantine, but many workers continue to express their worry that these policies are not enough.
As COVID makes its way through the US, employers are cutting shifts, furloughing employees, or laying them off. Daniel Schneider points out that cut shift can feel like a job loss for workers.
Walmart is described as being uniquely positioned to benefit during the pandemic through its business, however, 347,000 of its employees do not have sick paid leave or do not take advantage of it.
Based on 2018-2019 survey data, The Shift Project published a report on what paid sick leave access looks like across the largest companies in the US. Many of the workers most affected, including fast-food and grocery workers, are the ones who have the most contact with people, posing a great health concern.
Employers' responses to COVID-19 have varied, with some implementing paid sick leave policies while others asking employees to take weeks of unpaid leave. Adding to this instability is the volatile schedules that many service sector workers experience which makes accessing social services even more challenging.
The New York Times published Shift data on paid sick leave at large national chains, revealing which companies provide paid sick leave to their frontline workers, and which do not.
At an event presented by the Fair Work Week NJ Coalition, members discussed newly introduced legislation aiming to protect minimum wage and service industry workers against unpredictable scheduling practices. In January, The Shift Project released a report examining schedule instability and unpredictability in New Jersey.
