Dick's Drive-In cited for COVID safety violations, burns, and exposure to hazardous chemicals & blood-borne pathogens
Months-long wait for enforcement action underscores crisis of labor standards enforcement in WA
Workers at Dick’s Drive-In are making progress towards ensuring a safe and healthy workplace. Many months after workers filed formal complaints and over a year after workers first raised concerns about health & safety violations at Dick’s Drive-In — including frequent burns, poor sanitation practices, exposure to dangerous chemicals, and failure to comply with COVID safety guidelines — the WA Department of Labor & Industries has issued 12 formal citations for health and safety violations at Dick's. The findings include 7 citations for serious violations.
The 12 citations issued to Dick’s by the state (copy available here) confirm the issues raised by workers in their complaints. The L&I findings document a wide range of serious health & safety violations, assess a financial penalty of $35,100, and compel Dick’s Drive-In to promptly address violations, which include:
Disregard for social distancing & masking: L&I investigators found that management frequently ignored social distancing and masking requirements, regularly exposing employees to close contact with their coworkers and with maskless customers.
Exposure to dangerous chemicals & blood-borne pathogens: Investigators found that Dick’s did not provide workers with the required safety equipment when using hazardous chemicals on the job, and did not take required safety measures to protect workers from contact with blood & needles while cleaning bathrooms.
Frequent burns & lack of safety gear: Investigators found that workers frequently suffered burns while grilling burgers because Dick’s failed to provide adequate protective gear. Investigators also found that workers were not provided with sufficient safety equipment when assigned cleaning tasks involving hazardous products like bleach.
“It’s encouraging to see the state take workers’ complaints seriously in this case and step in with enforcement action. Still, workers had to wait months for the state to issue a finding and address these long standing workplace hazards. When faced with urgent violations of their rights, workers need to know they can count on swift enforcement action that protects their health & safety,” said Danielle Alvarado, Fair Work Center/Working Washington Legal Director.
While Dick’s workers were able to assert their rights and the state eventually issued citations in this case, hundreds of thousands of other workers in Washington are also struggling with unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and billions of dollars in wage theft — but far too many of these workers are left waiting without enforcement despite facing similarly urgent violations of their rights. Under our current labor standards enforcement system, workers simply do not yet have the tools to adequately enforce our state’s labor standards and protect their health & safety.
That’s why we need new tools like the Worker Protection Act, which would allow workers to file whistleblower claims, address issues across entire workplaces rather than as individuals, and take their claims directly before judge and jury if the state fails to act. During the 2021 Washington State legislative session, the Worker Protection Act (HB 1076) passed the State House, but did not pass the State Senate.
More information:
Workers at two Dick’s Drive-In locations in Seattle initially filed formal complaints in March 2021 detailing health & safety violations dating back to 2020.
When complaints were filed, the President of Dick’s Drive-In denied there was a problem and claimed the company had conducted its own investigation.
During the 2021 Washington State legislative session, the Worker Protection Act (HB 1076) did not advance out of the State Senate Ways & Means Committee. State Senators Jamie Pedersen (D-43rd) and Reuven Carlyle (D-36th) sit on the Ways & Means Committee and the two cited Dick’s Drive-In locations are in their districts.
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Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org