Restaurant Workers and ROC-LA

Arcadia workers join a Facebook group, Cheesecake Factory COVID-19 Affecting Employees, with over 7,000 members from around the country. It becomes a place where workers can share concerns about pandemic working conditions. ROC-LA posts information about workers’ rights and runs polls to find out about working conditions.

ROC-LA conducts a survey with 277 Cheesecake Factory workers in 37 states. Over 70% of workers share that someone at their worksite has COVID-19  symptoms; a quarter were told by management not to discuss their symptoms; 44% were afraid of retaliation if they brought up concerns about health and safety; and more than half did not get paid sick leave.

Workers from the Arcadia Cheesecake Factory contact ROC-LA. They share their concerns and ask for help.

In  their first public health department complaint, workers report broken equipment that caused multiple injuries, black mold in the dish pit and bar sink areas, inadequate ventilation, and lack of information regarding COVID-19 paid sick leave. The same day, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health conducts an inspection and finds HOO violations, such as: not maintaining physical distance and a lack of distancing markers, no signs to remind customers not to enter if ill, not keeping with maximum occupancy restrictions, and no use of face coverings and hand sanitizer.

ROC-LA helps a worker file a retaliation complaint. The worker is a member of the PHC program and his hours were cut significantly after he gets involved in the complaint process. An investigator from the Department of Business and Consumer Affairs talks to the worker to investigate. As a result of the findings, the case is expanded to include several other workers who also faced retaliation.

The non-profit Private Equity Stakeholders Project helps ROC-LA research investors in the Cheesecake Factory.  ROC-LA supports four workers to prepare their testimony and members of the PHC and ROC-LA organizers attend the LA City Employee Retirement System (LACERS) pension fund meeting, which has investments in the Cheesecake Factory.  It is the first time that Cheesecake Factory workers talk about their working conditions in this forum. Board members are surprised to hear from workers and assure them their testimony has been heard. ROC-LA and workers begin developing a website to encourage other workers to speak up at similar meetings.

Link to audio file of the meeting: LACERS pension fund Action 8/10/20