r/science • u/eastbayted • 2d ago

Health Sick food service workers remain top driver of viral foodborne outbreaks in US

https://www.healio.com/news/gastroenterology/20250331/sick-food-service-workers-remain-top-driver-of-viral-foodborne-outbreaks-in-us
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u/unclefisty 2d ago

My anecdotal experience has been that restaurants are rampant with wage theft by employers, especially since many of the people working there are not well off and have no idea of their actual rights.

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u/HaloGuy381 1d ago

Or even if they know them, they lack the means to hire a lawyer to fight or to bring a case to the proper agencies. Even if the lawyer is on contingency, the time involved to gather information and find allies is more than people barely putting bread on the table can muster.

Also, not quite the same, but retail at least attracts a -lot- of workers with a wide variety of disabilities (which are often not formally categorized because to declare it is a giant sign saying “find an excuse to fire me”), some of which may not interfere with work but might make it very difficult to fight such a situation. Throw in how hard it is to find another employer for said people, and just letting the wage theft happen becomes an understandable reaction.