Letter to Governor Ricketts and the Press

April 25, 2020

I am writing to express my concern over Governor Ricketts’ decision yesterday to lift restrictions on restaurants and also to express my outrage at the immediate response by some restaurant owners in the Omaha area.

Governor Ricketts’ decision clearly goes against CDC guidance for opening restaurants during this pandemic.  As of this morning, the CDC web site says “In states with evidence of community transmission, bars, restaurants, food courts, gyms, and other indoor and outdoor venues where groups of people congregate should be closed.”  In addition, Nebraska Medicine epidemiologists are saying that now is not the time to relax restrictions.  It is the time to double down on our efforts to reduce the spread of coronavirus through our community.  Governor Ricketts has listened to advice from these experts throughout the pandemic and now is not the time to stop listening.

Even more disappointing than the Governor’s order was the response by some restaurants.  Within hours of the Governor’s order, some restaurant employees who were laid off as a result of COVID-19 received texts and emails form their employers stating that the restaurant would begin the process of reopening and that the employee must commit to returning to work by Monday or the employer would contest the unemployment benefits the employee has been receiving.

As a former restaurant owner/operator, I understand the financial impact a large number of unemployment claims can have on the restaurant’s unemployment insurance rates.  Governor Ricketts has already stated, however, that unemployment claims related to COVID-19 would not be included in the determination of a business’s insurance rates.  In other words, a large number of COVID-19 related claims would have no financial impact on the business. 

The bottom line here is that some restaurant owners are using Governor Ricketts’ order yesterday as leverage to coerce their employees to return to an unsafe work environment.  
These unethical operators are threatening employees with loss of benefits unless the employee returns to work before experts say it is safe to do so.  In addition, I don’t think they’ve given much thought to their own liability if an employee is coerced into returning to work in an unsafe environment and then gets sick and dies.  As a relative of a restaurant worker, if this happened to my loved one I would certainly sue that restaurant out of existence so it could never happen again.

I fully understand the impact this pandemic is having on the restaurant industry, but I think the unethical actions of some restaurant owners are putting their employees and customers at risk in favor of cash flow and we need to call them out on it.  Prioritizing money over human lives is simply unethical and morally wrong.

Sincerely,

Jeff Camp