Formal complaints detail mask violations, pressure to work while awaiting COVID test results, poor sanitation, and other issues at Dick’s Drive-In
Extent of issues underscores crisis of labor standards enforcement in our state
Five workers from two locations of Dick’s Drive-In today filed formal health & safety complaints with the Department of Labor & Industries, documenting a range of severe workplace issues including lack of hot water, frequent burns, poor sanitation practices, and failure to comply with COVID safety guidelines.
Severe health & safety issues raised in the complaints include:
Failure to isolate people who may be sick: Instead of identifying and isolating sick workers, managers have pressed workers to come to work after being exposed to COVID-19 and awaiting test results.
Lack of access to hot water: Hot water is frequently not available for hand-washing, cleaning, or other purposes in the Broadway location, a longstanding issue.
Disregard for social distancing: Social distancing requirements are frequently ignored, especially in often-cramped back-of-house areas. Managers at the Queen Anne location even hold meetings in a small enclosed office with multiple employees, and often do not wear masks when away from customer-service areas.
Poor health & safety conditions: Hand-washing is inconsistently required, refrigerators are contaminated with mold, and high-touch surfaces are not regularly sanitized. At the Broadway location, an electrical heater is often placed in the middle of a pool of water. First aid kits are inadequately stocked and inaccessible, and workers cleaning bathrooms are exposed to used needles without protective equipment or safety guidance.
Exposure to maskless customers: Management makes little effort to control customers without masks who put their faces close to workers when orders are taken. Instead, managers have been known to instruct workers to simply serve maskless customers more quickly in order to reduce the time of exposure.
Frequent burns: Kitchen staff are given thin plastic gloves which can melt to the skin when exposed to heat, and at least one worker has ended up in the emergency room with burns as a result. Other workers have been severely injured by hot oil and hot surfaces. Poor training on handling of cleaning products has led to chemical burns.
Dick’s workers who filed these claims are available for interview. Contact Sage Wilson of Working Washington to arrange: sage@workingwa.org
Dick's Drive-In has a well-established reputation as a beloved community institution and a great place to work, but conditions in these stores right now simply don't align with this history. Workers know the company can do better, but managers have consistently failed to address these issues.
This group of workers is represented by Fair Work Center. While the workers filing claims today have been able to take action and assert their rights, hundreds of thousands of other workers in Washington are also struggling with unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and wage theft. Our labor standards enforcement system relies almost entirely on the bravery and determination of individual workers who bring issues forward, but the state only investigates a small number of complaints each year, and only issues a handful of fines against scofflaw employers. Washington simply does not have the tools to adequately enforce our labor standards and keep workers safe and healthy.
The Worker Protection Act (HB 1076), being considered by the state legislature this year, would offer workers new tools to enforce their rights. By allowing whistleblowers to pursue claims, the Worker Protection Act would allow these Dick’s workers to blow the whistle on health & safety conditions, sexual harassment, paid sick days violations, and other issues happening not just at these two locations, but to all of their co-workers across the chain. And if the state failed to act, whistleblowers would be able to take their claims before judge and jury. The Worker Protection Act has passed the State House, and currently awaits action in the Senate Labor committee.
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Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org