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If a worker is sick longer than that - or if they have other pandemic-related caretaking responsibilities, or are themselves immunocompromised - employees can either tap into paid time off they’ve already accrued, or take unpaid time off. Sick leave: The Amazon-owned prestige grocery behemoth offers “up to an additional two weeks of paid time off” for employees who’ve either been formally diagnosed with COVID-19, or who have been instructed to quarantine by a “medical or government authority” or by the store itself, a Whole Foods spokesperson told Eater. Whole Foods photo, Alastair Wallace/Shutterstock illustrations, zuperia/Shutterstock But in case you do have a choice as to where you can shop, consider the following: It’s far from comprehensive: Corporate policies don’t necessarily reflect the store-level reality, and what’s happening at one location isn’t necessarily what’s happening at another. This month, many chains will start lifting those monetary bonuses, showing that there’s only so long grocery brands will consider their employees “heroes.” With that in mind, we sifted through the policies of several major grocery chains, looking at the steps they’re taking to protect their workers, and what workers say about how those policies are playing out on the ground. That well of appreciation is apparently drying up, though. Since the start of the pandemic, mass calls for companies to give grocery workers hazard pay have led to several chains giving employees hourly wage increases or bonuses, an acknowledgment that just by clocking in, workers are putting themselves at risk. And the majority now offer at least some kind of additional sick leave, even if the details of those programs aren’t always successfully communicated to employees.
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Most stores have also outlined heightened daily cleaning procedures, as well as additional sanitizing protocols if an employee tests positive.
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Now, most national brands - including all the companies we spoke to for this piece - say they’re providing workers with masks, and many require that they wear them. Some things have improved since the first days of the crisis. In most of the country, however, workers are dependent on the policies of their employers. So far, the federal government has failed to mandate any meaningful protections for grocery workers - and, as Mother Jones points out, only a “handful” of states have taken action themselves, some mandating masks for workers, shoppers, or a combination of the two. The risk is real: Dozens of supermarket workers have already died of COVID-19 this week, Randy Narvaez, a longtime employee at the Kroger-owned King Scoopers, in Denver, became the latest casualty of the crisis. As the global pandemic drags on, grocery store employees have become frontline workers, and two months into the crisis, they’re still putting their own health at risk to keep America fed - and keep food on their own tables.