I have been seeing appreciation posts on social media for people that are continuing to work during the pandemic and for what they are doing to keep life as normal as possible for those in self-quarantine. But these posts don’t seem to be enough to help some of these workers feel protected while on the job. The anxiety around COVID-19 is coming to a boiling point for some.

Although gig-workers are not on the ‘front lines of the pandemic’ like the workers in the health care industry are, they are still susceptible to contracting the disease from an increase in person-to-person contact while on the job. One of the companies whose employees are taking action against their perceived exposure to the virus is Instacart. Some of the demands that Instacart’s workers are asking for is to be provided with hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes, an added $5 per order charge as hazard pay and increasing the default tip to 10% from 5%.

Another company that has seen an increase in demand, but also an increase in worker complaints is Amazon. The Amazon warehouse in Staten Island was at the center of a recent complaint brought up by a warehouse worker, Christian Smalls. Mr. Smalls said that he noticed one of his coworkers looked sick and suggested that they head home. He later found out that that employee tested positive for COVID-19. He asked that the warehouse be shut down for two weeks in order to sanitize the facility and figure out who among the staff may have become infected through contact with the employee who tested positive. The warehouse was not shut down and that prompted Mr. Smalls along with others to protest Amazon’s treatment of their employees. Mr. Smalls was fired by the company for what they said was a violation of their social-distancing guidelines. This seems a little coincidental that they would fire the whistleblower for their lack of responsible conduct during the pandemic when that was the very complaint they filed against the company.