A year working during a pandemic – WITHOUT paid sick leave. ENOUGH!

More than one year into the COVID pandemic, most McDonald’s workers across the United States STILL do not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and paid sick leave.

A lot of people are acting like COVID is over. It’s not.

78 percent of McDonald’s workers report not having paid sick leave [1]. Too many feel forced to come in when they’re sick because they cannot afford to miss a paycheck.

Enough. The time for paid sick leave was BEFORE a pandemic, but now it’s even more urgent – tell McDonald’s to give EVERY ONE of its workers adequate PPE and paid sick leave TODAY.

We demand McDonald’s adopt a comprehensive plan to protect customers and all workers at franchised and corporate-operated stores who wear the McDonald’s uniform and are the essential contributors to its billions in revenue and profits:

  • McDonald’s must provide PAID sick leave to all workers who wear the McDonald’s uniform
  • McDonald’s must provide paid leave for anyone wearing the McDonald’s uniform who requires time off work to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and, if necessary, recover from any side-effects
  • McDonald’s must adhere to the strictest safety standards based on the best available scientific evidence and supply all Crew Members with critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • McDonald’s must cover the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment for all affected crew members. When McDonald’s crew members are diagnosed COVID-19 positive, McDonald’s must:
    1. Immediately close all store locations where the Crew Member(s) worked in the previous two weeks
    2. Notify within 24 hours all crew members and the public at locations where COVID-19 positive crew members worked in the previous two weeks. Workers should be placed in quarantine and provided with two-weeks of quarantine pay
    3. Conduct a deep clean of all locations where an employee who tested positive for COVID-19 worked in accordance with health department guidelines to ensure that returning workers and customers are safe
    4. Make the infection public knowledge for the good of community health
  • McDonald’s must provide COVID-19 Essential Worker Pay of at least double $15/hour for crew members who continue to serve the public during this pandemic.
  • McDonald’s must halt dividend payments for the remainder of the pandemic to free resources needed to provide full protection from the COVID virus for every corporate and franchise worker

Sources:
[1] “Estimates of Workers Who Lack Access to Paid Sick Leave at 91 Large Service Sector Employers,” March 2020, The Shift Project