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Furor Over Mask Requirements Mirrors Retail’s Open-Carry Rules
- Employees are scared to ask customers to cover their faces
- Retailers’ newest safety policy is ‘now a political issue’
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Last year, Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. asked workers to gently encourage gun-carrying customers to leave their firearms outside. The ill-defined policies put employees in a difficult, even dangerous position, thrusting them onto the front lines of a contentious national debate.
Now it’s happening again. This time the issue is shoppers wearing masks inside grocery stores. While many retail chains recommend the practice to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, so far only one big national retailer -- Costco Wholesale Corp., whose shoppers all pay an annual membership fee -- has required it. A few hard-hit states like New York and New Jersey have mandated face coverings in public places, but the patchwork of regulations just muddies the issue.