Our survey identified that non-CFPM respondents had a great desire for paid sick leave and listed it as the top response for what would make them more eective in ensuring that safe food handling practices are followed in their restaurant. Conversely, only a low proportion of CFPM respondents chose paid sick leave as a response to the same question. It might be that many CFPMs are managers and therefore themselves have health benefits such as paid sick leave. Or it might be that CFPMs are salaried employees. Future research should be conducted to determine the reasons for the dierence in reporting between CFPMs and non-CFPMs with regard to the perceived potential eec- tiveness of paid sick leave, how paid sick leave aects reporting behaviors for worker illness, and dierences between access to paid sick leave between CFPMs and non-CFPMs. When asked if management maintains an employee illness log, 25% of respondents were unsure or said no. Moreover, only 42% of respondents said they would reach out to their health inspector if they received a customer complaint of illness. We need to continue eorts to communicate the utility of tracking and recording employee symp- toms of vomiting or diarrhea. We also need to emphasize the utility of restaurants report- ing patron complaints to the health depart- ment—both of which are requirements in the Minnesota Food Code. Recording and tracking employee symp- toms and reporting patron complaints of ill- ness can help the PIC to a) identify if an out- break is occurring and b) put interventions in place (e.g., excluding workers, increased handwashing, cleaning and sanitizing) to stop illness transmission. Most of the survey respondents were managers with years of experience who were trained in food safety and food code requirements, so the gaps in employee illness reporting are likely more extensive than reported here. Thus, future research should evaluate how to best address these deficiencies. There were some limitations to this study. The study is representative of Minnesota food workers only. With most of the respon- dents being managers, it is possible that the summary responses do not reflect the actual beliefs and practices of the entire food worker population in Minnesota. Additionally, we do not know where the respondents were located
TABLE 4
Reported Employee Illness Behaviors by Minnesota Food Workers ( N = 1,535)
Question
#
%
In the past 3 months, have you been sick with vomiting or diarrhea? Yes
201
13 86
No
1,322
Unsure 1 Did you tell your supervisor that you were experiencing vomiting or diarrhea before reporting to work? ( n = 201) Yes 160 80 No 41 20 Why didn’t you tell your supervisor that you were sick with vomiting or diarrhea? (n = 41) * I didn’t want to lose my shift 19 46 I was worried there would be consequences from management 13 32 I wasn’t working the days I was sick 10 24 Other 10 24 I wasn’t contagious 6 15 I felt it was too personal 2 5 Does your restaurant management require employees to report when they are sick with vomiting or diarrhea? Yes 1,230 80 No 242 16 Unsure 63 4 If an employee comes in to work while sick with vomiting or diarrhea, how does management respond? * Send worker home 1,345 88 Do nothing 65 4 Unsure 52 3 Put worker in a nonfood area 16 1 Assign worker to other activities 13 1 Other 44 3 Does management at your restaurant maintain an illness log to record employee illness? Yes 1,147 75 No 170 11 Unsure 218 14 Why doesn’t management maintain an illness log to record employee illness? ( n = 170) * Unsure 60 35 Unaware of log requirement 36 21 Management is aware of the log requirement, but there are too many other things to keep track of 30 18 Management has a log but doesn’t maintain it 28 16 Other 26 15 What would you do if a customer called and said they became sick after eating at your restaurant? * Notify management 1,206 79 Take down the name and number of the caller 1,189 77 Investigate internally 750 49 Notify health inspector 641 42 Contact restaurant corporate office 214 14 Do nothing with it 7 0 Other 76 5 Unsure 29 2 * Survey respondents could select multiple answers for these questions. 12
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June 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
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