As U.S. authorities ordered shutdowns of non-essential businesses to fight coronavirus, retailer Nordstrom Inc closed hundreds of stores and gave in-store workers three weeks’ pay, calling their safety its top priority.
File Photo: Wayfair employee Akeel Sudlow, who told his employers that he would not come to work during the coronavirus disease outbreak, poses at his home in Lawrence, New Jersey, U.S. April 6, 2020. REUTERS/Jessica Kourkounis
“A lot of people are scared” at Nordstrom, said Christensen, who says she earns less than $40,000 per year and is enrolled in the company’s health insurance plan. “We’re selling designer-line apparel and cosmetics. None of this is make-it-or-break-it for the current situation.” Those orders are filled by warehouses employing hundreds of people. Stephanie Morris, 57, works for IKEA in New Jersey, shipping sofas and shelves. She says she checks her temperature before each shift. “People don’t understand that, when you order something, there’s got to be someone there to pull that merchandise,” she said.
A recent report from the Brookings Institution think tank estimated that between 49 million and 62 million U.S. workers – 34% to 43% of the total workforce - are employed in industries deemed to be essential under what the organization called a “sweeping” federal definition. Those industries, Brookings found, tend to employ lower-wage workers who often have less health insurance than most Americans.
Workers themselves are often torn about continuing to work. One of Christensen’s Nordstrom co-workers, Makenzie McMullen, 28, called the warehouse environment a “ticking time bomb,” and yet said she was “very conflicted” about whether to stay home.‘EVERY SALE COUNTS RIGHT NOW!’ Other companies, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, O’Reilly, Wayfair and IKEA, offered warehouse workers one or two weeks of additional leave if they test positive or get quarantined by a medical professional. IKEA’s policy also applies to workers showing COVID-19 or flu symptoms, those with family members showing symptoms, and workers with underlying health conditions that heighten the threat of the virus, the company said.
Rae Jones, 29, works at an O’Reilly Auto Parts warehouse in Alabama. She has an autoimmune disease that has already consumed what little sick leave she had, so she continues to work. The company offered no additional virus-related sick leave unless she tests positive for COVID-19. It has not regularly provided sanitizer, she said, so she started giving workers her own homemade concoction of Everclear grain alcohol and aloe vera.
Stephanie Haynes, an Amazon employee in Joliet, Illinois, said the company did not shut down her warehouse after a worker tested positive. Instead, Amazon checked surveillance cameras to determine who had worked within six feet of the infected staffer and asked those employees to self-quarantine. Others were asked back to work, even if they were convinced they had been exposed, she said.
Wayfair said 13 workers have tested positive, and in each case it cleaned facilities and identified those in close contact with infected staffers. The company said it paid all employees during closures and paid workers in quarantine.Akeel Sudlow, 28, works at the warehouse as an IT support engineer. When he requested to work from home, citing ill health and school closures, his manager said he could go unpaid, according to communication seen by Reuters.
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