Judge orders diner workers to wear masks
CANTON – Owners of the Lake Varsity Diner have been ordered to comply with Ohio regulations that some employees wear masks while in the restaurant.
Stark County Common Pleas Judge Natalie Haupt issued the ruling Wednesday morning.
Haupt ordered Joe and Colleen Beasley, owners of the restaurant at 13367 Cleveland Ave. NW in Lake Township, to follow rules set in the Dine Safe Ohio order issued last summer by the Ohio Department of Health.
The restaurant “must comply with and enforce the face covering requirements, and all other requirements of the health orders,” Haupt wrote in the ruling. The court order was effective immediately.
Wednesday afternoon, when contacted at the restaurant, Beasley declined to comment because he still hadn’t received a copy of Haupt’s ruling. Beasley and his employees at the restaurant weren’t wearing masks at the time.
The Dine Safe Ohio order allowed the reopening of restaurants following last year’s shutdown of non-essential businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dine Safe Ohio required employees and customers to wear masks in restaurants. Customers could remove masks to eat, and the mask rules are eased for employees working in a restaurant’s kitchen. But hostess and wait staff are required to wear masks.
When Joe Beasley reopened Lake Varsity Diner last July, he didn’t require employees to wear a mask.
In a hearing last week, a restaurant employee testified that Beasley implemented a policy that workers wouldn’t wear masks because of safety concerns.
Beasley has argued there is a safety issue wearing masks because a customer’s order could be misunderstood, which might lead to a customer becoming sick if they had an allergic reaction to food. He also has argued that the order was unconstitutional.
The Stark County Health Department received complaints about Lake Varsity Diner employees not wearing masks. A health department compliance officer visited the restaurant in October and November, telling Beasley he needed to comply with state’s regulation.
In December, the health department sought a court order telling Beasley to comply with the state order. A temporary injunction was issued in late December.
During hearings, Beasley’s lawyer argued that none of the restaurant’s customers became ill or suffered injuries because employees didn’t wear masks. He also claimed that no nuisance occurred, and that the health order violated Beasley’s fundamental property rights.
Beasley attempted to have the case moved to federal court in Akron. U.S. District Court Judge John Adams ruled the case as a state court issue and sent it back to Stark County Common Pleas Court.