Workers Fearful of the Coronavirus Are Getting Fired and Losing Their Benefits – The New York Times

Mark Adani, a car salesman in suburban Detroit, spent weeks working from home to avoid the coronavirus. He is 71 and has high blood pressure and a wife with heart trouble. But he recently got an ultimatum from his dealership: Come back to the office or consider a new job.

Im damned if I come to work, damned if I dont come to work, he said.

Mr. Adani said one worker had already died of Covid-19, and he flirted with letting his bosses dismiss him when he was called back to the office.

Ultimately, he decided to go back. He was unable to reach anyone from Michigans overwhelmed unemployment system to answer whether he could refuse to go back and still retain his benefits.

With customers scarce, Mr. Adani said he spent much of the day at his desk, chasing online leads and worrying about bringing home the virus to his wife. Most of his co-workers slip on masks when they head to the break room for coffee.

I really dont feel this place is safe, Mr. Adani said.

Nurses, grocery store workers, fast-food cashiers, slaughterhouse workers and others deemed essential have been navigating these fears throughout the pandemic because they never stopped working. Now, the concern is spreading to wider areas of the economy.

In Boise, Idaho, Robin Slater, a 65-year-old line cook with chronic shortness of breath from 40 years of smoking, said he was reluctant to answer the call back to work at the sports bar where he constantly bumps up against other cooks in the tiny kitchen. He said he was the only one who wore a mask. The plan, he said, was to limit tables to six people or fewer, though a party of 14 came in to eat last Sunday.

Mr. Slater said he had little choice other than returning to work because he was almost certain to lose his $220 in weekly unemployment, supplemented by the $600 passed as part of the coronavirus relief bill. So far, 147 workers in Idaho have been reported as refusing to work, though the state did not say how many had lost benefits.

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Workers Fearful of the Coronavirus Are Getting Fired and Losing Their Benefits - The New York Times