Although the company promised to pay employees who have been diagnosed with the virus up to two weeks of pay, multiple workers who meet the standards for sick leave say they have not received pay or only got a reduced amount, according to a Wednesday report from CNBC.
Kish added that workers sent home with a fever would be given “up to five hours” of their pay for the day, which would equate to a little under 60 percent of an eight-hour day. An earlier report from Buzzfeed suggested that workers who were told to stay home due to fevers were not given any pay by the company.
The company is “continually revisiting policies” during the pandemic, Kish said, and other measures intended to contain the spread of the virus at company facilities were also said to be in place.
Temperature checks have been used to screen people in many settings, but medical experts have warned that the virus can be easily spread from infected people who do not have fevers or show any other symptoms.
Workers who are quarantined at home and filed for unemployment in lieu of compensation from the company also said they feared the move could cost them their jobs, despite being allowed to apply according to Labor Department guidelines during the pandemic.
Clark also insisted that the employees were being supported, saying that workers who test positive for the virus or are diagnosed by a doctor when they can’t get a test would get “extra paid time off” without specifying if they would be paid their usual paycheck.
“If someone would rather not come to work, we are supporting them in their time off,” Clark wrote. “If someone is diagnosed or comes to us who is presumptively diagnosed (but unable to get a test), we are giving them extra paid time off.”
