Two Washington grocery associations on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Burien after the city's ordinance requiring some grocery stores to pay employees hazard pay took effect. The lawsuit filed by The Northwest Grocery Association (NWGA) and the Washington Food Industry Association alleges the ordinance excludes other frontline workers that have been working throughout the pandemic, which violates the U.S. Constitution and the Washington.
Grocery Associations file lawsuit against City of Burien to halt grocery worker extra pay westsideseattle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from westsideseattle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
King County looks to expand hazard pay for grocery store workers
Grocery workers in unincorporated King County could soon be getting hazard pay. (Getty Images)
King County Councilmembers introduced legislation this week to give grocery store workers in unincorporated areas of the county an additional $4 an hour in “hazard pay.”
This comes after similar measures were enacted in both Seattle and Burien, handing out an additional $4 and $5 an hour, respectively, to grocery workers at large stores. Seattle’s measure encompasses stores with 500 or more employees, while Burien’s minimum is set at 250 employees.
The intent for this latest effort is to have the hazard pay for grocery stores in unincorporated King County be in effect until the countywide state of emergency brought on by the pandemic ends.
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It has been an exhausting 10 months for Toni Ward Sockwell, an assistant manager at Cash Saver, a grocery chain, in Guthrie, Oklahoma. She has been helping to oversee about 40 anxious employees during a deadly pandemic, vigilantly disinfecting counters at the store and worrying about passing the coronavirus to her elderly mother while dropping off produce.
News of the vaccines initially boosted her spirits, but her optimism faded as she learned that grocery store workers in Oklahoma would not be eligible for them until spring.
“When they said we were Phase 3, I wanted to laugh,” Sockwell, 45, said. “We’re around just as many sick people as we are around nonsick people, just like health care workers, because we are always going to be open to supply food to the public.