Asian and Latinx Low-Income Workers Fired for COVID-19 Fears
A new study from Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley showed that many essential workers, particularly Asian, Latinx, and low-income workers were unable to speak up regarding physical distancing and health concerns in the workplace during the pandemic. Researchers surveyed over 600 workers and conducted in-depth interviews to learn more about the challenges these workers faced during COVID-19. The data showed that nearly 59 percent of restaurant workers stated that they were unable to physically distance and 66 percent said that physical barriers were either not present or ineffective. However, of the workers surveyed, 45 percent expressed that they did not verbalize their concerns for fear of retaliation by employers. Nearly 61 percent of Asian workers did not speak up because they believed nothing would be changed in their workplace while 84 percent of Latinx workers were worried that speaking up could lead to retaliation in the form of an investigation into their immigration status.