Calling in sick at Chipotle? Nurses might make sure you aren’t just hungover, CEO says

Chipotle employees who call in sick might be assessed by nurses to make sure they’re actually ill, the company says.

During a Barclays webcast last week, Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol told investors that the company uses nurses to ensure employees are truly sick and not just down with the brown bottle flu.

“We have nurses on call, so that if you say, ‘Hey, I’ve been sick,’ you get the call into the nurse,” Niccol said during the webcast. “The nurse validates that it’s not a hangover — you’re really sick — and then we pay for the day off to get healthy again.”

But not everyone will have to speak with nurses, the company said in a statement to Business Insider, adding that all employees get paid sick leave from their first day on the job.

“When an employee reports serious symptoms to their manager, the clinical nurse team at Zero Hour Health will follow up with those employees to understand their illness,” vice president of food safety Kerry Bridges said in the statement.

The protocol is part of an attempt to improve the chain’s food safety culture, Niccol said during the webcast.

In 2015, Chipotle was under fire after an E. coli outbreak linked to the restaurant sickened 100 people and led to the closure of a number of restaurants in Oregon and Washington, CBS reported. Last year, a Chipotle in Ohio closed after improperly stored food made 647 customers sick, according to the outlet.

Still, Niccol says the company’s food safety culture has made strides even in the last two years, adding that the company assembled a food safety council and that employees use cleaner that kills norovirus to wipe down tables.

This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Calling in sick at Chipotle? Nurses might make sure you aren’t just hungover, CEO says."