Casey's fined for COVID violations; conservative group pledges to appeal
Casey’s Restaurant in Klamath Falls has been fined $8,900 by Oregon OSHA for a willful violation of the governor’s executive order that prohibits dine-in eating.
The family-owned restaurant was issued a red warning notice on Nov. 29 to stop serving food and drinks on-site during a two week “freeze” to slow the spread of COVID. OSHA inspected the restaurant between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2 and interviewed an owner and several employees about the working conditions and operations.
According to OSHA’s inspection, Casey’s owners claimed they lost roughly $30,000 due to previous restrictions on businesses back in the spring. Owner Patty Barney told an OSHA inspector that they couldn’t afford to close their doors again to take-out only.
“We cannot operate our business under the restrictive guidelines of Executive Order 20-65. We believe these guidelines are not applied equitably or in a way that allows businesses in our industry to survive,” owners Annie Patzke, Patty Barney, Michael Patzke and Dolores Patzke wrote in a letter to OSHA. “It seems to be under the guise of ‘doing something’ that the state is once again engaged in irreparably harming certain groups while protecting others.”
Read more: https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/caseys-fined-for-covid-violations-conservative-group-pledges-to-appeal/article_5ce7b94b-6b17-564b-be50-554215089a12.html
(Klamath Falls Herald and News)