Willamette Valley Pie Company Loses Employees Over Mask Rules
SALEM, Ore. — The cafe and retail store at Willamette Valley Pie Company were closed both Tuesday and Wednesday. It reopened Thursday with new, shorter hours of 10AM-5PM.
Families in the area love this place. It has been a hangout for good coffee and slices of pie with ice cream and whole pies to go.
A sign on the door Monday afternoon indicated there were staffing issues.
The company provided the following statement to FM News 101:
“The safety of our staff and customers is of the utmost importance to us. At this time, out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to continue having our team wear masks. As a company that values our community, we want to make sure everyone who walks through our doors is protected, including staff members. Just as employees must follow regulated health practices to work at an establishment serving food, we consider this an added layer of quality assurance. No employees have been terminated due to this policy.”
A business has the right to have those rules in place following the end of the statewide mandate.
The 8 or 9 staff members who all left on the same day likely did not agree with the policy.