@luckytran I wrote an email to the CEO Lynsi Snyder and will follow-up with a physical letter to their corporate office. I'll share below if anyone wants to adapt parts and do the same.
#disabled #ableism #CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsntOver

--
I'm writing to ask you to please reverse your recent decision to ban employees from wearing a mask unless medically exempt. This decision shows not only a complete disregard for the health and safety of your employees and customers, as everyone is affected by disease spread, but is also profoundly ableist and lacking an understanding of current (and historic) context. Requiring employees to not only divulge their medical information to their employers but also openly to the public is a mindset rooted in othering people who are disabled or otherwise medically vulnerable. In general, it's bad when a marginalized group must publicly declare their status as such, but especially now when people are already struggling to survive an ongoing pandemic amidst the hostility of antimask sentiment. This decision furthers that othering and hostility, making those employees into targets. But this decision doesn't just impact your employees directly, it feeds into that larger cultural antimask sentiment and perpetuates ableism. This lack of understanding of the impact of your decision is a clear message that it's not just those employees your company does not value, but all disabled and vulnerable people. Please show your ability to learn and understand the impacts of your decision, as well as your disapproval of ableism, and reverse this decision. Further, I urge you to demonstrate actual value for your employees and customers by adapting to our reality and implementing measures to reduce the spread of COVID and other pathogens in your restaurants and other workplaces. This can be achieved through simple measures like improving the ventilation and filtration in buildings, improving sick leave policies, and other actions including, yes, masking by employees.

Thank you
Xxxx

PS
This company push to ignore our current reality and new cultural understanding of disease spread is not just callous, it's boring. Be better.

@luckytran how is this not analogous to banning PPE in other circumstances? Like can you ban office workers from wearing hard hats? Can you ban chefs from wearing oven mitts / aprons?

IDK, maybe it's not a perfect analogy but it seems like if your workers want to wear masks / hair nets that seems fine? Who actually gives a shit about that day-to-day other than management?

NOTE: This is very separate from /requiring/ PPE or some kind of dress code, since this is /banning/ PPE on the job. And a face-mask when you're handling food seems pretty fucking normal, sick or otherwise.

@luckytran reminder that the courts actually said "the business is absolutely at fault but the correct ruling would hurt too many businesses so fuck you."

Eat the rich.

@luckytran … gawd … I mean, I’ve never thought, “working at a burger shop for minimum-wage would look great on my resume!”

🤔 but, … getting fired for wearing a mask, in a place that serves food? 🤪
I would totally put that on my resume. 😂

@luckytran

I already would never go back to In N Out.

This ensures it

@luckytran

Horrible indeed, but I think I've found a loophole to achieve "the importance of customer service and the ability to see associates' smiles."

@luckytran

You may find this feed useful.

Each Friday the total number of Americans killed by Covid 19 is updated.

Each Friday the number of Americans killed in the last week by Covid 19 is posted.

https://mastodon.social/@WeeklyAmericanPandemicDeaths

@luckytran

Looks like I'll never be buying from them. I'll make sure to pass on the word IRL as well.