My name is Duane, and I’m a proud father of my beautiful five-year-old daughter. I worked at Juicy Couture’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City for almost four years in the stock department. I started this petition with my coworker Darrell, because while we stock & sell Juicy Couture’s $200 jeans and sweaters, the company decided they don’t want to take care of their workers. Darrell was a successful full-time sales associate for two and half years, until the company started pushing full-time workers out. When I started, I also got 40 hours a week, but I struggled along with my coworkers as our hours were cut. Eventually, I was down to 14 hours each week. When I asked for more hours, they said they couldn’t give them to me because I didn’t have open availability – because of my daughter. When we began working at Juicy Couture, many of us were full-time. Now, only 19 of the store’s 128 employees are full-time! Not only are they firing full-time workers and replacing us with a part-time workforce, just this month Juicy capped all part-time workers hours at 21 hours per week. We quickly realized that Juicy Couture is doing everything they can to not take care of its workers. See, it was hard enough for us to make ends meet in New York City as full-time retail workers. But by keeping hours under 30 per week, Juicy Couture will no longer be required to offer their workers affordable health care – part of the Affordable Health Care Act’s plan to make sure more working Americans have basic health care. Further, we were told we’re only eligible for paid time off in case we’re sick or have other responsibilities if we work 1400 hours in one year. We did the math, and realized part-time workers reach that at 21 hours per week. This means that the vast majority of Juicy Couture’s workers will not ever get one single paid sick day. Darrell and I are just two of the full-time employees that have been forced out of Juicy Couture by having our hours cut or being fired. Now we’re speaking out on behalf of my coworkers who remain at the store, because we all deserve Just Hours. We know from experience that Juicy has loyal customers and dedicated employees -- if enough of us speak out and demand Just Hours, they'll have no choice but to act.

The only way our working conditions and wages will improve is if we all band together to tell our employers that they are not entitled to our labor until they treat us all much more fairly. Our current wages are barely enough to scrape by when considering that after taxes, there's still a struggle to cover rent, bills, groceries, vehicle maintenance, pets and any unexpected injuries or accidents. Our current working conditions are hostile almost daily, typically in the form of coworkers having disagreements and getting into screaming / yelling matches (often in front of donors and / or customers) that go largely unresolved by management; these disagreements also commonly end in "behind each other's backs" comments that often lead to further disagreements that, again, end in one of these two ways. When asked to help resolve many of these issues, management has commonly responded with some remark about or similar to being "unable" to do anything about it.

There should be no obstacles to people staying away from work if they could possibly be COVID positive

Change

We, the undersigned workers of Jimmy John's are concerned about the COVID-19 Health Crisis, and are worried about how our current work situation is putting us and others directly in harm’s way. We do not feel it is safe to be allowing customers to continue coming into the lobby when the CDC and medical community agree that we have not yet even reached the peak of this crisis. Even with the precautions that management has taken to make things safer, the reality is that our stores are mostly small enclosed spaces, COVID-19 is highly contagious, and cases in Indiana are continuing to rise by the hundreds each day. Also, our state does not have regularly accessible testing so the actual number of confirmed cases and deaths are likely far higher than what they are reported as now. We understand that sales are down, but we believe that management must put the lives of its customers and staff over its own profit. If one of us gets sick and is unable to take paid time off or the lobby is opened then they have significantly greater risk of spreading the virus to the rest of the staff and to customers. We cannot in good conscience put ourselves, our families, and our customers at even greater risk by keeping the lobby open and increasing the amount of direct contact that could likely spread the virus further. The close contact at the register and in the lobby means that anyone taking orders and drivers returning from deliveries come well within six feet of many customers and put both parties at risk.

Walmart is giving immunocompromised workers 14 days off without penalty of termination. The attendance policy is that we can only miss five days in a 6 month period before we are terminated whether you are ill with the flu or not. With COVID19 our days should be extended.

The United states is in the middle of a pandemic where most businesses have closed due to corona virus spreading. Yet wendys remains open and ia forcing its employees to work out od a drive thru window does not even follow the safety guidelines of 6 ft. Were not given masks or hand sanitizer and were told to ration are gloves. Were forced to wear headset that are right on our faces that are not being disinfected between uses. Why is it our lives our not important. Since when is a double cheeseburger an essential thing for people to survive. We have kids and families that we are endangering everyday. Most people who work in fast food our senior citizens, people with disabilities and people with kids. Why are our lives not important. Let us go home or give us safe work environments and the proper items to safely do our jobs during the corona pandemic.

This is important to all your employees not only to help them financially but to also show them you do care, because we are all in this together!

We are being forced to use our earned time off during a national crisis that is no fault of our own. We should receive paid time off and not have to use our personal time.

This is important because many of us here at Apple have had to take a leave of absence from work for various reasons. The leave process is challenging and draining. Most, if not all of the process is put on the employee. The employees may already be under stress, anxiety, or intense pressure due to their own personal situation. When we were hired, we were guaranteed these benefits but we aren’t all receiving them. This is especially true for those of us suffering with mental health problems which I believe are usually disregarded by the leave company and never seriously considered a disability. The government finds many mental health issues to be disabilities, so, why is it different when dealing with a leave company? Perhaps because the leave company believes the employee just wants to get paid to be out of work and to do whatever they want. However, the reality is that when on a leave for mental health issues, those issues are exacerbated due to the added stresses of being out on a leave, and mental health does not improve. There is no fairness when leave claims are handled between those with physical health leaves and mental health leaves. Physical and mental health do correlate. Personally, I have found Sedgwick to be a one-sided company whose only objective is to save Apple money by not paying their employees while out on a medical leave of absence from work. More specifically, in relation to medical leaves involving mental health. They also do not employ doctors to interview employees or review the documentation to verify their reason for the leave. They employ nurses, who are not qualified to make medical decisions, to make decisions regarding ones claim. Sedgwick is an unfair company with unfair business practices and many complaints regarding this company have been filed in recent years.

Despite rising tuition costs, the majority of faculty continue to be underpaid, underrepresented, and lack any type of job security. At Point Park, we pay between $24,000 and $30,000 a year in tuition. Our adjunct professors on the other hand, receive $2,100 to $2,200 per course with NO benefits and no guarantee of future employment. As students we must ask ourselves where does the money go? If not to those working day-in and day-out to impart us with the necessary skills for our futures then where? 78% of our professors are adjuncts. An increased use of adjuncts lowers graduation rates. This is only because they are not receiving the benefits and compensation they deserve. By giving our adjuncts space on campus, bettering adjunct working conditions, increasing adjunct pay this can be remedied. This would free up adjunct schedules allowing more time for them to focus on a reasonable number of students, and provide the quality education they strive to give. Graduation rates would rise as students would be granted much needed one on one time to work with their professors. In respect to the treatment of our professors the University is not looking out for the students. By withholding from our professors the fair treatment, job security, proper benefits, and proper pay that they deserve not only are our chances of success during college hampered, but our futures as well. They are ignoring student needs and completely disregarding the values in which they espouse. [1] Point Park University. "Tuition." Accessed February 9, 2014. http://www.pointpark.edu/About/TuitionCosts/Tuition. [2] Schackner, Bill. "Colleges are hiring more adjunct professors." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last modified April 5, 2013. http://www.post-gazette.com/education/2013/04/05/Colleges-are-hiring-more-adjunct-professors/stories/201304050117#ixzz2l3DZcF9n. [3] Erdley, Debra. "Adjunct teachers prop up higher education, seek rights." TribLIVE.com. Last modified March 31, 2013. http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_789221.html#axzz2kMocQdqO. [4] Kezar, Adrianna, Daniel Maxey, and Lara Badke. "The Imperative for Change." University of Southern California. Last modified 2012. http://imperative.thechangingfaculty.org/.