The way some New York restaurateurs treat workers is enough to make you sick.
Employees who don’t get sick days are nearly twice as likely to sneeze, cough or spit on customers’ food, according to a new report by a coalition of worker advocates led by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York.
And staffers who get no health and safety training are twice as likely to admit having served dirty, spoiled or leftover food than those who do get such training, the study says.
The study doesn’t name names, but its authors, who queried 880 city eatery workers, say the priciest restaurants are as likely to serve up unfit food as the cheapest takeout joints.
Employees working while suffering from flu or other illness is the biggest problem, said Saru Jayaraman, director of the center.
“One time, I was unable to talk because my throat was so bad and I had a high temperature . . . I had to run to the kitchen to drink water to avoid coughing in front of the client,” says an anonymous worker quoted in the report. More restaurants should give workers paid sick leave, said Jayaraman. “The number of employers providing sick days in this industry is next to zero,” she noted.
Another problem is workers untrained in the use of kitchen knives.
“I saw a friend cut off a piece of his finger and keep working because the assistant chef made him,” said an anonymous pastry maker. “Even though he was bleeding, he kept serving salads, and I was in anguish knowing that the customers would find a piece of his finger in their salad.”
Jayaraman said, “People are not trained to cut properly, and they are not provided proper cutting spaces.
“This doesn’t affect just the worker and the employer, who is paying higher insurance costs. But it also affects consumers.”
There’s likely a correlation between food safety and how owners treat workers, acknowledged Chuck Hunt, a spokesman for the New York State Restaurant Association, a trade group.
But he said the problems cited in the report are not widespread. “The great majority of New York City restaurants observe the laws and place No. 1 importance on food safety,” Hunt said.
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Food fright
* Workers who don’t get sick days are twice as likely to have sneezed, coughed or spit in food.
* Workers in understaffed restaurants are twice as likely to handle food improperly.
* Customers are more likely to get bad food in restaurants where workers aren’t properly trained.
* Workers in eateries with many labor-law violations are six times more likely to cut corners that might harm customers’ health or safety.
Source: Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York