I recently read an article about several employees quitting their job at a fast food place after being forced to work for almost 2 months without air conditioning! I personally could not imagine going to work, in a uniform that is most likely pants, working around hot grills and fryers and being expected to continue working honestly.
The article stated that the outside temperatures were in the 90’s everyday while the air conditioning was off.
This puts the employees at risk for heat related illnesses such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion. I remember when I first started teaching at my school, the air conditioning system barely worked in the first classroom they assigned me to. I was teaching in November in the south, where temperatures were in the 100’s with high humidity. The air conditioning would only come on for about five minutes an hour and then always came on when the school afternoon was over. I also could not open the windows. I brought the complaint to my principal’s secretary and she right away offered for me to temporarily move classrooms until the school district’s heating and air conditioning professionals could service the issue. If I was forced to stay in that hot classroom, that would have been unsafe for both myself and my students. It is unfair for employees to be forced into honestly working in dangerous conditions without air conditioning. If the manager of the corporation is not able to service the air conditioning themselves, they should call a heating and air conditioning company right away to service it. If for some reason there is a delay in the heating and air conditioning company coming out, the corporation should temporarily close until everything is fixed. It is not worth potentially risking an employee’s life.