Coronavirus impact

Jeffers said Darden has been working on the sick leave policy for some time, but the current environment accelerated the plan.

“The development of paid sick time is not in response to COVID-19,” he said.

The company’s restaurants are also now conducting hourly handwashing checks and more frequently sanitizing areas that guests touch, such as door handles and condiments, Jeffers said.

In addition to concerns over coronavirus, Gordon pointed out restaurants have faced

difficulties attracting workers. He said the move by Darden is good marketing. The unemployment rate was 3.5% in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Customers do notice this stuff,” Gordon said. “I am aware of polls over a period of time that actually indicate that companies should take care of their employees.”

Darden wasn’t alone in announcing a sick leave policy this week.

Instacart, an online grocery pickup and delivery service, announced a sick pay policy for its in-store shoppers, part-time employees who can earn one hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked with a cap of 40 sick pay hours per year.

“Today, we’re introducing a number of new guidelines, resources, and investments to further support the health and safety of all Instacart shoppers,” a statement from Instacart said. “These include updated health and safety guidelines for shoppers, a new sick pay policy for all in-store shoppers nationwide, and additional support for any shopper or part-time employee affected by COVID-19.”

Coronavirus is a wake-up call for state, local and federal policy, said Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy with Florida AFL-CIO, which represents more than 500 unions.

“It’s just not a good or sustainable practice in a state that relies so heavily on tourism and service to have people interacting with tourists when they’re sick,” Templin said.

“This approaching pandemic is really pointing out the inefficiencies and the unfair practices that especially lower-wage workers have to deal with that simultaneously make it so much harder to stop the spread of the disease.”