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Working at the cash register has become a risky job in a supermarket, both for employees of these stores and for visitors. Supermarkets are essential businesses that have the responsibility to guarantee the supply of stores in each city, but in the same way, the high and constant flow of people in the same place makes them a potential source of COVID-19 contagion.
For example, if a small or medium-sized grocery store receives approximately 100 people in a day, who on average buy 20 products and have 2 cash registers available to make their payment, each cashier has around 1000 opportunities for contagion, since in addition to having close contact with each customer at the time of payment, they must handle items that were also handled by people in charge of the supply chain, stocking, and display.
While employers are required by law to provide their employees with all biosecurity equipment that allows them to perform their duties with the minimum possible risk, there are cases where the equipment provided is not of the necessary quality or is not supplied in full.
According to John Grant, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in California, almost 27% of local employees who got sick from the virus have been cashiers, confirming that this is a risky job during the pandemic. That is, the measures that have been adopted by food distributors for months have not been sufficient to protect their employees, largely because hundreds of people infected with the virus are asymptomatic and this allows them to move freely through the different spaces that keep their doors open during the pandemic.
If this is your case or the case of one of your friends, family members, or acquaintances, that is, if you contracted COVID-19 at work, you can request workers' compensation through which you receive various benefits including the medical care that the disease requires and economic assistance for your subsistence.
If your immigration status is irregular, you also have the right to receive this compensation, since the laws of the country indicate that any person who performs work regardless of their status will be covered by the employer's insurance. At Conexión Legal we offer free legal advice for cases of workers' compensation for accidents or illnesses at work; contact us through this channel via the WhatsApp icon or by Scheduling Your Consultation and explore solutions for your case. Follow the steps in the following form to schedule your free consultation appointment.
