Seattle's normally bustling restaurants are quiet this month. A number of restaurants, including my own, have reduced service hours or closed their doors as the region's reputation as a coronavirus "hotspot" dashes tourists' and residents' desire to dine out.
The city's safety net —including a high minimum wage and paid sick leave — is supposed to protect restaurant workers in times of need. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) proposed expanding Seattle's sick pay policy nationwide. This provision, which passed in the House last week, could be taken up by the Senate as early as today. But enacting such a policy would be a mistake: As a worker living through the crisis, I've seen that sick leave is a woefully insufficient cure for the challenges presented by coronavirus, and that more-robust government intervention is needed.
It's been a challenging several months for me. In January, I lost my job at the Tom Douglas restaurant Tanakasan after the city's rising labor costs forced it to close down. I landed on my feet at another of Tom's restaurants, but relief was fleeting; Washington reported its first case of coronavirus by the end of that month. As of last week, the declining traffic forced Tom to close all of his restaurants. I've had to file for unemployment.
Seattle requires restaurant owners like Tom to provide one hour of paid sick time for every thirty hours worked, capped at 72 hours of leave carried over from year to year. Unfortunately, paid sick leave isn't designed to meet the challenge that Seattle is current facing. For starters, my problem isn't that I'm sick — my problem is that customers are worried they'll get sick if they visit Seattle, and the restaurant's business has tanked because of it.
I don't need a paid day off, I need a source of income to replace what I would have earned if Tom was open and business was booming.
The other problem with paid sick leave is it doesn't help employees who are contagious but not yet showing symptoms. The CDC estimates that patients can be symptom-free for up to two weeks after being infected. Were my colleagues or I in this situation, we would have worked our shifts not knowing that we were carrying the disease.
I'm a restaurant worker and a mother, not a lawmaker. But if I was proposing a solution to Congress right now, I'd structure it based on my recent experience with unemployment insurance. Make it a benefit I can file for directly with a process that's easy to understand, and that supplements my income while I'm affected by this crisis. For maximum impact, this financial relief should be on top of any other unemployment benefits I'm receiving.
An unprecedented crisis requires an unprecedented response and this Congress has a chance to meet this challenge head on. Through direct federal aid, our leaders can assure that workers are made whole and healthy when it's time to return to work.
Sick leave might sound like a good idea, but right now the country's service workers need income more than they need a paid day off.
Ms. Barron is a restaurant worker and co-founder of the Full Service Workers Alliance.
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