A survey by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) about working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic confirms that corporate America has treated Black workers categorically worse than White workers during the pandemic.
The survey found that Black workers were roughly twice as likely to have been retaliated against by their employers for speaking up about health concerns and requesting time off work.
Three out of four Black workers who took the survey said they showed up to work during the pandemic even though they believed they might have been seriously risking their health or the health of family members.
“Our results suggest that virus transmission in the workplace may be exacerbated by employer repression and that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities may be related to greater exposure of Black workers to repressive workplace environments,” the study’s authors wrote.
“While Black workers at any given worksite tend to be treated worse than their white counterparts, the study’s authors suggest that Black workers, as a whole, tend to work in more repressive environments than White workers,” noted vice.com.
