Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee
Hobby Lobby is refusing to close in several states.
- Hobby Lobby quietly reopened stores around the country this week, in defiance of stay-at-home mandates that call for the closure of nonessential businesses, which are currently in effect in 38 states.
- While officials in Ohio and Colorado issued cease-and-desist letters to Hobby Lobby locations on Wednesday, stores in several other states currently remain open.
- Business Insider spoke to 19 employees in 13 states who expressed fear for their health and safety due to a lack of proper protections and inadequate sick pay.
- Employees shared photos of what it's been like to work inside Hobby Lobby during the coronavirus outbreak.
- Hobby Lobby did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
On Wednesday morning, a Hobby Lobby employee in Ohio was manning the register when a nurse approached her, tears in her eyes.
The nurse told the employee that the store - which had quietly reopened on Monday, despite Ohio's stay-at-home mandate calling for the closure of nonessential businesses, before it was shut down by the attorney general on Wednesday evening - shouldn't be open and urged her to quit.
"She said a job isn't worth my health or safety," the employee said. "Then she bought a metal wall sign."
The employee is one of 19 Hobby Lobby staffers across 13 states who told Business Insider they believe the crafts store has become a threat to public health and safety amid the coronavirus outbreak. The staffers - who each spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution but whose identities and employment statuses have been confirmed - work in stores in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.
Nearly all of these employees work in regions that are currently under statewide or county-specific stay-at-home mandates calling for the closure of nonessential businesses. Though this delineation is determined by lawmakers in each state, a universally accepted list of essential businesses - as well as a guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security - does not include craft stores.
Still, that hasn't stopped Hobby Lobby from reopening stores in several of these states while arming managers with talking points for "how to respond and communicate if visited by a local authority that asks why we are open," according to a memo obtained by Business Insider this week.
Though reopened stores in Ohio and Colorado have been forcibly shuttered in response to cease-and-desist orders issued by state officials on Wednesday, several around the country still remain up and running. Employees in these locations expressed fear for their safety due to a lack of proper protections and inadequate sick pay.
"We are being forced to stay open with no type of protection for employees," an employee in Texas wrote in an email to Business Insider. "We are trying to be a part of the solution for stopping the spread of this deadly virus instead of the problem."
Hobby Lobby did not respond to Business Insider's request to comment.
Employees at stores in Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas shared photos of what it's been like to work at a reopened Hobby Lobby during the coronavirus outbreak. Read more about their experience below.
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