Despite the ongoing pandemic, some companies are banning employees from masking

Some employees are fighting back. And winning.

On April 15, fast food restaurant chain Panda Express unveiled a new policy banning masks for workers. 

Immediately, customers and community members pushed back over social media, demanding that Panda Express rescind the ban and make masking, at the very least, the employee’s choice. Only four days after the original announcement, Panda Express issued a new statement, revoking the ban. 

Other fast food chains, McDonald’s and Starbucks among them, have attempted similar, smaller-scale worker mask bans in certain locations, creating new dress codes stating workers should not wear any facial coverings. In 2023, In-N-Out faced public opposition for a proposed mask ban with a doctor’s note medical exemption, though California law forbade the company from enforcing it. 

“The workplace can be an unsafe place for individuals who are immunocompromised with conditions such as Long COVID,” said Barbara Comerford, a disability lawyer.

The end of U.S. federal emergencies for COVID-19 in 2023 meant government mask mandates were rolled back. “That left the issue [of] whether immunocompromised employees could be denied the right to wear protective gear in the workplace,” Comerford continued. She also said that Long COVID is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and that diagnosis isn’t always necessary for a worker to receive reasonable accommodations, especially those provided by the worker. There are limitations, Comerford explained: “Title I of the ADA applies to private employers with 15 or more employees, as well as state and local government employers, employment agencies, and labor unions.”

While some anti-mask policies have failed — a win for workers — there is a larger effort to ban masks in the U.S. on state and local levels. And more businesses may attempt to ban masks in the workplace even though these policies may violate laws that protect masks as accessibility devices. The Sick Times spoke with five workers affected by anti-mask attitudes in their workplaces, as well as organizers and a disability law expert, about how to push back against these policies.

Contradictions in medical workplaces

People with Long COVID working in medical fields are more at risk, often facing exposure on the job. Lu Golden, who works at a children’s hospital in Texas, said, “Obviously, I care about the patients, but I also care about myself. I’m already chronically ill. I don’t need to aggravate [my conditions] or any of that stuff with new viral infections.” Like other workers who spoke to The Sick Times, Golden has noticed contradictions between their workplace’s stated values and how it handles the ongoing pandemic. 

In 2023, the hospital where they work changed its masking policy, requiring staff to wear only masks provided by the hospital. Despite justifying the policy change by stating the hospital’s masks are higher quality, the facility started to offer just surgical masks to staff. This means Golden has to take off the high-quality N95 that they personally use and put on a less-protective surgical mask whenever they enter the hospital.

The contradiction between COVID-19’s reality and hospital policy became even more apparent when Golden realized the hospital dress code encouraged fun and flashy fashion among staff to help keep children at ease. However, fun and fashionable KN95s and N95s aren’t permitted. 

“Our MRI machine is painted so you look like you’re in a submarine underwater,” Golden said, “But I wish the technician had to wear a quality mask … I don’t want [healthcare providers] to give [patients] a disease from which they may never recover.”

Rina Rose experienced similarly contradictory guidance while providing services for older adults. Rose lives in Oregon and worked in assisted living memory care earlier in the pandemic. In the facility, Rose wore “full PPE,” including a mask, face shield, gown, and gloves for up to twelve hours at a time. “Honestly, I felt safer working in an environment where it was circulating regularly, and we knew about it,” they said.

The facility also required testing and isolation for people infected with SARS-CoV-2, which added to Rose’s sense of security. It was only after care home leadership abandoned these mitigations that Rose was infected at work, which resulted in them developing Long COVID. 

Many people living in the care home also got sick and died after mitigations were dropped, including nearly a dozen in Rose’s care. Because of the lack of precautions, Rose left this position and now works in special education. They are frequently the lone person masking in the buildings where they work, despite many of the children they serve being high-risk.

Like Rose, Jeremy Mako saw mandatory masking and other mitigations slowly phased out as they worked the checkout counter at a Walgreens earlier in the pandemic. Mako felt unsafe, especially while helping maskless customers buy cough medicine and COVID-19 tests. They also experienced harassment for their own mask from customers, but said they had no support from the store’s management or corporate leadership.

This led Mako to change jobs, and they now work as a mortuary assistant. Despite feeling safer due to fewer exposures to people, they too are the only person masking in their workspace. They said they are unsupported as an immunocompromised person by the lack of real policy around COVID-19 caution for workers — despite corpse management policies that still purportedly assert the disease’s danger. 

“We still have signs that say ‘Caution: COVID-19 body being embalmed. Do not enter.’”

“Customers want to see your smiles”

This lack of COVID-19 precautions affects nonmedical industries, too. Thomas Klimer is a safety officer working in the research labs of a glassware company in New York. While the company doesn’t have explicit anti-masking policies, it also lacks any COVID-19 safety, he said: “One big thing I’ve noticed is that people are taking more sick days with COVID. People are sick for longer periods and need to be out of work longer, and nothing has been done to catch up with this.”

In 2021, economic forecasters estimated that COVID-19 impacted the U.S. economy at the rate of $1 billion a week. Studies in following years found losses in productivity, more sick days, and high absenteeism in those with Long COVID. One study published in Communications Medicine this April estimated the total cost of lost wages due to Long COVID in the U.S. at $218 billion in 2023, and found that poor, Latine, and LGBTQ+ households were most likely to be impacted. And a major 2024 review paper estimated that Long COVID costs the global economy $1 trillion a year.

Klimer’s employer has the minimum acceptable sick-leave policy as required by New York state law, just seven days per year. It often takes someone ten or more days to clear a SARS-CoV-2 infection, and many experts recommend resting as much as possible to help lessen chances of Long COVID, which can last for years to life and has no approved treatments.

When workers get sick, they often risk losing their jobs for simply staying home to recover. Surveys suggest that many people choose to come in and potentially infect others to protect their income. Klimer was even told by management to come to work with COVID-19 when he caught it last year and went over his sick day limit. 

Fixing the sick day issue and giving people time off to recover is Klimer’s number one recommendation as a safety officer.

These types of economic issues tied to Long COVID hit hourly wage workers the hardest. Aster works at Starbucks in Alabama, as does their roommate, who is immunocompromised. (The Sick Times is using a pseudonym for Aster to protect their privacy.) For them, masking is as much about intersectional politics as it is self-protection: It’s “a way to fight against [various forms of oppression] starting with protecting disabled people.” 

They spoke about a new dress code their company leadership rolled out, and how some managers were thinking about banning workers from masking on the clock. “It makes sense that they would be appealing to crowds that don’t want to think about COVID. And perpetuate COVID denialism,” Aster said.

Managers told Aster that a doctor’s note is required to mask, either for the worker or a specific person that they need to protect. Otherwise, communication from management was vague, often amounting to “the customers want to see your smiles.” Aster says it was difficult to get a straight answer from management and leadership.

The Sick Times reached out to Starbucks for comment. A representative said the company’s guidance regarding masks reflects current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also said the company has a comprehensive accommodations process if employees need support. 

Per a food safety manual screenshot shared by a barista on Reddit, Starbucks policy only allows for workers to wear masks for five days after a positive test or after “recovering” (specifically, “has not had a fever for 24 hours”) from a “respiratory illness,” and asks workers to return to work only 24 hours after calling in sick for COVID-19 if they do not have a fever. COVID-19 is a disease that can spread without symptoms and be contagious for over a week.

After Aster reached out to their district manager, the ban was mysteriously dropped. “I’m glad I get to stay at my job longer and I don’t have to job hunt,” they said, “but it’s not fun to be worried about that possibility.”

How organizers are defending masking

To push back against anti-mask policies at work, Julie Lam, founder of Mask Together America (MTA), recommended focusing on the right to clean air and portraying masks as the accessibility device that they are. The organization works to oppose anti-mask sentiment by highlighting those at highest risk of COVID-19 living their lives.

Pro-mask policies can also actually help businesses, said Marjorie Roberts, an ambassador of MTA. Roberts suggests that those in leadership positions “lead from the top” when it comes to masking: “Stand strong. Wear your mask. Put yourself first.”

Workers can also take lessons from the advocates fighting mask bans, said Sidney Hollingsworth of MTA. For the past several years, she has worked to create a coalition of clean air and pro-mask organizations and currently chairs the group’s efforts to counter anti-mask legislation in Texas.

The language of these bans seeks to connect the idea of masking in public places with criminal intent, Hollingsworth said. To push back, she recommends highlighting the reality and legality of masking as a disability aid.

Since the government and business owners are unwilling to provide accessibility during the ongoing pandemic, unionization and collective action in the workplace are critical tools workers must utilize to force the issue, said Stephanie Basile. Basile is a union organizer with the Communications Workers of America’s NewsGuild and someone living with Long COVID.

“Earlier in the pandemic, we were fighting return-to-office mandates and relaxation of [COVID-19 mitigation] protocols,” Basile said, “but now there’s a really big push by employers to put people back in the office with no protections. And no considerations for those who may not be able to do that because of their health.”

Basile suggests collective bargaining with your employer. “If you have a union in your workplace, this is something you can bargain over. Even if you don’t have a [collective bargaining] contract in place, this is something you and your coworkers can push for: It’s a health issue.” Some of the workplaces she’s supported have successfully won hybrid schedules by pushing employers to deal with COVID-19 as a health issue like they do workplace injury and health hazards like asbestos. 

As with most organizing, this fight is all about the middle ground.

“Masking is interesting as an organizing issue because organizing is about not being afraid to do things that might be a little bit uncomfortable for the greater good,” Basile said.

Nadica Zimmerman is the founder and administrator of the CovidSafeHotties community and archives. She works as a freelance writer and film critic. She has a master’s in library and information science and is seeking employment in the field, facing difficulty because of state budget cuts and COVID-19 minimization.

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