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Board of Health hears link between foodborne illness prevention and enforcing restaurant worker labor standards
Summary
Presenters and workers told the King County Board of Health that labor-law compliance—paid sick leave, meal and rest breaks, and wage enforcement—affects food-safety outcomes; Board members discussed potential partnerships with labor enforcement agencies and precedents in California counties to tie wage-judgment compliance to permit status.
Current and former restaurant workers, labor advocates, legal scholars and county staff told the King County Board of Health on July 17 that strengthening enforcement of basic workplace standards could reduce foodborne illness risk by removing incentives for workers to come to work sick and by reducing error-prone overwork.
Why it matters: Workers who lack paid sick leave, face punitive point or attendance policies, or work double shifts are more likely to handle food while ill or make errors that affect food safety, panelists said. "This point system ... created a work culture that encourage[s] workers to show up to work sick," said Matthew Clay, a…
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