COVID-19 leaves workers in a fix
Spotty sick-leave policies limit options for avoiding fast-spreading virus
LONDON—A barber in Beijing is supporting his wife and child by charging food and other expenses to a credit card while he waits for his employer’s shop to reopen. A waiter at a barbecue restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., washes his hands more often and hopes for the best. A parcel-delivery driver in Britain worries about getting sick from the people who sign for their packages.
While white-collar workers trying to avoid contagion can work from home or call in sick if they experience symptoms of the virus, that’s not an option for the millions of waiters, delivery workers, cashiers, ridehailing drivers, museum attendants and countless others who routinely come into contact with the public.
Their dilemma is often compounded by spotty sick-leave policies or inadequate healthinsurance coverage, leaving them vulnerable to the fastspreading coronavirus that has already claimed thousands of lives and put them in a financially precarious position. “The recommendations on what people should be doing to protect themselves really gives a sharp indication of the divide between white-collar and bluecollar workers,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a workers-rights lawyer in Boston. “Our socialsafety net is just not equipped at this moment to deal with a crisis like this, and it will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable low-wage workers.”
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
While tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have implemented work-from-home policies, only 29 per cent of U.S. workers have that option, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That means retail workers like Mendy Hughes must fend for themselves. The Walmart cashier in Malvern, Ark., serves hundreds of people a day and her big worry is what will happen to her income if she catches the virus or comes in contact with someone who’s had it and must self-quarantine for 14 days.
“If I can’t go to work, I could try to take a leave, but it will be unpaid,” said Hughes, who earns $11.60 (U.S.) an hour. “I don’t know what I would be doing about taking care of my family.”
Hughes, a diabetic and mother of four, gets 48 hours of sick leave a year, but she fears it wouldn’t be nearly enough time to recover. On Tuesday, Walmart announced a new policy that might offer her some relief: employees who work in a region that is required to quarantine by the government or by the retailer, as well as those who have a confirmed case of the new virus, will receive two weeks of pay. If they are not able to return to work after that time, additional pay may be provided for up to 26 weeks for both full-time and part-time hourly workers.
In the U.S., about 27 per cent of private sector workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some countries, like Britain, are looking into helping out non-permanent workers. There is no federal sick-leave policy in the U.S., but 12 of the 50 states and Washington D.C. require employers to offer paid sick leave.
In Britain, parcel-delivery driver Ed Cross worries about catching the virus from the machine he hands people who sign for their packages. “People have coughed on their hand and then got hold of my machine and you sort of make a joke of it trying to point it out,” he said. “But yeah, it’s what we face daily.”
The British government last week made it easier to collect statutory sick pay and is working on changes to help millions of non-permanent workers like Cross who aren’t eligible for it.