I am not feeling well this morning, I do not think it is COVID19 because no one in my household is sick.  We are short-staffed at the job and I feel bad if I do not come in because it will make the work more difficult for my coworkers.  What should I do?

1. If you feel unwell, do NOT go to work.
2. Follow usual call-in procedure and let your manager know that you are feeling sick.
3. If your manager gives you a hard time, tell them: “It is not safe for my coworkers or the guests/customers for me to come to work. It is not safe for you if I come to work sick. I will let you know how I am feeling tomorrow.”
4. Call or text your shop steward to let them know that you are calling out because of illness.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

You learn that one of your coworkers has been sent home to quarantine because they either tested positive for COVID-19, were exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, or have symptoms of COVID-19.  Your managers are following the law and have not told you who the person is, but based on your guess you are worried about your health.  What should you do?

1. We all need to be proactive to protect our own and each other’s safety. Do not hold back from talking with your manager if you have a concern. Your manager cannot tell you the name of the person who was sent home, but they can direct you what to do if you explain your concern.
2. Talk to your manager. Tell them the name of the person and when you think you last had contact with them, and explain your concern. If this is the person who was quarantined, your manager will be able to direct you what to do without violating the law.
3. Talk to your shop steward about your concern. If your shop steward has more information, they can also guide you to stay safe and keep others safe.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

My manager provided disposable masks to all workers at the beginning of the week but we have run out this morning and only half of my coworkers got masks this morning.  What should we do?

1. You should not work without a mask. If you have a cloth mask that is clean and that you handled safely – and your work allows you to maintain more than 6 feet of distance from coworkers and guests/customers – you can wear that mask in order to work.
2. Talk with your coworkers so you can agree how you are going to stay safe together.
3. Tell your manager, “I am willing to work, but I need a mask in order to stay safe and to keep everyone safe. I will wait outside (in my car or in another safe location outside the workplace) until there are masks so that we can start work.”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

We have run out of hand sanitizer and the only way for me to sanitize my hands between contact with guests/customers is if I use my own personal hand sanitizer.  What should I do?

1. It should be your manager’s responsibility to provide the materials that you need in order to stay safe and keep everyone safe.
2. Talk to your coworkers about solutions. Is it possible to wash your hands between contact with guests/customers?  Is there extra sanitizer available in another work area?
3. Tell your manager: “I am willing to do my job but I cannot work without sanitizing or washing my hands between contact with guests/customers.”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

You are working in the kitchen on a hot Friday night. A large group arrived and it is very busy. You notice that one of the cooks has pulled his mask down while he continues to work at his station. He tells you that the mask is too uncomfortable to wear in the heat and that he is not feeling sick so he doesn’t think it should be a problem for anyone. What do you do?

1. Violating safety practices can have health consequences for everyone! You should never take a short cut just to save time or get the job done. Wearing masks while indoors, exposed to many people or exposed to other people over a period of several hours (like the length of a shift) is an important safety practice that can reduce the risk of infection between you, your coworkers, and the guests/customers.
2. Wearing a mask can affect some people’s comfort and patience, even making some people feel claustrophobic or anxious. Someone who feels this way needs to take a break where they can go outside or distance themselves from other people. Taking a break to temporarily remove your mask should follow the same workplace rules as when taking a break to go to the bathroom. Tell your coworker, “It looks like you’re hot and need to take a break from wearing your mask. Please ask for a break and go outside where you can get some space from the rest of us and where it will be safe to take off your mask.”
3. Talk to your shop steward or the safety committee about how to handle these situations so you all are ready to support each other and stay safe together. Wearing a mask in the kitchen is as important as wearing a cut glove while using a knife. Ultimately, your manager is responsible for enforcing safety practices at work.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

The area where I work is a small location and I cannot maintain 6 feet of distance from my coworkers while we are working.  What should I do?

1. It should be your manager’s responsibility to modify the workplace so you can be safe while you are working. Masks alone do not protect you, at least 6 ft of distance is needed while you are working with a mask on.
2. Talk to your coworkers about solutions. Does everyone need to be working together at the same time, or can more distance be created by staggering shifts of work? Is there another unused space where you could work safely?  Can plexiglass screens be installed to separate your work areas?  Will you feel safe wearing a plastic face shield over your mask?
3. Tell your manager: “We are glad to do our job, but we are too close to each other, which is not safe for us or for the guests/customers. We need to work together on a solution so we can all stay safe. Just like you moved the tables and chairs in the dining area to keep customers safe, our work area needs to be modified too to keep all of us safe – me, my co-workers, you and the public.”
4. If the problem is not solved, talk to your shop steward and safety committee about solutions to stay safe.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

There is a plexiglass screen that has been installed at my location where the cashier works, but there is no plexiglass screen where we serve people food or where guests/customers are coming to pick up their orders.  What should I do?

1. It should be your manager’s responsibility to modify the workplace so that you can be safe while you are working.
2. Talk to your coworkers about solutions. Can the stations without plexiglass screens be moved so they are behind a screen that is already installed?  Will the problem be solved if a plexiglass screen is installed at the station where you are working?  Do you feel safe wearing a plastic face shield instead of using a plexiglass screen?
3. Tell your manager: “I am glad to do my job but where my station is located right now means that I am too close to guests/customers and there is no barrier between me and them. I need a screen or shield to be able to work safely.”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

The area where I work has been modified for safety, but there are no changes in our break time and break area to keep us safe.  We are still scheduled to take our break at the same time, serve our own food, and sit together in the employee cafeteria. What should we do?

1. It should be your manager’s responsibility to modify all areas in the workplace – even the ones you use when you are not clocked in.
2. Talk with your shop steward and coworkers about solutions. Can the break times be staggered so that fewer people are using the break area at the same time?  Should an additional person be assigned to serve the food so that people are not handling the same serving utensils?  Are there other areas that can be converted into clean and comfortable space for breaks so that you can remove your face mask to eat and have enough distance from your other coworkers? Are 6ft markers placed on the ground where you wait in line for food? Has the setup of tables and chairs been modified to keep everyone at least 6 ft apart?
3. Tell your manager: “We need to be safe even when we are on break, or everyone will get sick.”

*The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

There is not time to wash hands every 30 minutes and still complete the orders at my station.  What should I do?

1. Do not take safety shortcuts for any reason. It is very important to continue washing your hands regularly as this will keep you safe, keep your coworkers safe, and keep the guests/customers safe. Remember, soap is better for keeping you safe than sanitizer, so washing hands is the safest choice.
2. Tell your manager: “I am doing my best to finish this assignment, but I need to wash my hands now and again in 30 minutes and I am afraid that I will not have time to finish. Is there someone who can take part of this assignment so it can be finished on time?”
3. Talk to your shop steward and coworkers so they know you are struggling to complete your assignment and can back you up to continue following the safety practices that keep everyone safe.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

It takes too long to wait in line to get into the walk-in freezer.  I forgot something I need at my station.  I can run into the walk-in quickly and get what I need even though other people are in there right now.  What should I do?

1. Do not take safety shortcuts for any reason. It is very important to maintain physical distancing at all times in the job, even if that means it will take longer to finish your work.
2. Tell your manager: “I am worried I will not be able to finish on time. I have to wait in line again to get into the walk-in.”
3. Talk to your shop steward and coworkers so they know you are struggling to complete your assignment and can back you up to continue following the safety practices that keep everyone safe.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

You are almost done with preparation for lunch, but you realize you haven’t sanitized your work station since you started your shift.  No one around you has sanitized their work stations either.  When you go to look for wipes, you find that the container is empty. Your coworkers tell you there are none in the kitchen. What should you do?

1. Do not take safety shortcuts for any reason. It is very important to clean your work station regularly with disinfectant as this reduces the risk of infection.
2. Talk with your coworkers about this immediate safety concern so that no one takes a safety shortcut. Your health and safety are more important than the lunch preparation, no matter how close to the time for lunch service it is.
3. Call your manager into the kitchen and say: “We cannot continue to work without disinfectant to clean our stations. We will finish our assignments as soon as we can sanitize our work areas.” If you need to wait for your manager to get disinfectant, do so away from your work area.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

All your coworkers go in and out of the kitchen through a swinging door that can be pushed open from both sides.  You notice that even though many people touch the door throughout the day, it is not being cleaned during the shift.  What should you do?

1. We all need to be proactive to protect our own and everyone’s safety. Do not hold back from talking to your manager when you have a concern.  Safety practices due to the virus require a lot more sanitation work than before.
2. Talk with your shop steward and coworkers about this concern as well as other locations where there is not additional sanitation. Is there a way to eliminate touching this surface?  If not, how regularly should it be cleaned to keep everyone safe?
3. Tell your manager: “We wanted to raise a safety concern about a high-touch surface that is not being sanitized regularly during the shift. This creates a safety problem for us and the guests/customers.”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

The managers have not scheduled additional staff for extra sanitation work.  They have asked that everyone take additional sanitation assignments during each shift.  What should I do?

1. The virus has created dramatic changes in our workplaces. We need to be proactive to protect our own and everyone’s safety.  We may also need to adapt to changes in our own job.
2. Talk with your shop steward and coworkers. What do you think is the best solution to keep everyone safe?  With reduced occupancy or workloads, will sanitation work help you to get a full-time schedule?  Are you able to keep yourself safe while sanitizing your area or completing additional sanitation tasks?  Is there work for an additional person to be recalled and assigned this work? Have you been trained on how to safely use cleaning chemicals? Have you been provided the PPE needed for handling these chemicals? Did your employer train you on how to use and dispose of the PPE?
3. Tell your manager: “This virus requires additional sanitation work. Sanitizing chemicals can be unsafe to use without PPE and training. We want to talk with you about how we stay safe and how the workplace is safe for everyone.”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

Guests/customers are coming into the workplace without wearing masks.  The client has put up signs requesting that everyone wear masks while inside the building.  I am stationed at the entrance and am controlling the entrance so it does not become too crowded.  There are two people standing in line talking to each other who are not wearing masks. What do I do?

1. Our work as food and hospitality workers is about taking care of others and that means keeping everyone safe. By following the safety practices and insisting on those practices from ourselves, our coworkers, our managers and the public, we can help reduce the risk of infection for everyone.
2. Inform the guests/customers about the safety practice: “Let me remind you that the building has requested for everyone to wear masks inside. My coworkers and I are in the cafeteria 8 hours every day.  We need you to help keep us from getting sick while we are working.  Do you have a mask that you can put on before you go inside?”
3. Talk with your manager before this situation arises and ask for the support that you need. Tell your manager: “We are inside the cafeteria for eight hours every day. This increases our chances for exposure to the virus. Can I count on your help when guests/customers are not following the safety practices?”
4. Talk to your shop steward and coworkers to figure out how to come up with a solution to keep everyone safe.

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**

A guest is in a rush and reaches around the plexiglass shield at the to-go window to find their bagged lunch order.  I see them open a number of the bags looking to see if it is their order before I come over. What should I do?

1. Our work as food and hospitality workers is about taking care of others and that means keeping everyone safe. By following the safety practices and insisting on those practices from ourselves, our coworkers, our managers and the guests/customers, we can help reduce the risk of infection for everyone.
2. Tell the guest: “Stop! Please don’t handle these food orders, that is not sanitary and could increase the risk of infection. I’m sorry that you’re in a rush.  In the future, you must wait until I can pass you your order.”
3. Call your manager. You may need to replace the bags that the guest touched, or replace the entire order if the guest handled the food. Talk with your manager before this situation arises and ask for the support that you need. Tell your manager: I want to follow safe practices to keep everyone safe at work. I cannot control the public. Can I count on your help when guests/customers are not following the safety practices?”

**The response to this scenario is a guide for how you can protect your health and job during the pandemic. If your boss raises a specific concern with your actions, be sure to talk to your shop steward or organizer.**