Report Slams Sysco on COVID Protocols

A unit of foodservice distributor Sysco has been neglecting COVID protocols among truck drivers and warehouse workers, some employees have complained to CNBC.

Employees of Sysco’s Sygma division talked of a culture where they were sometimes ridiculed for wearing masks. Others complained that they didn’t get paid and got management backlash for asking for time off to quarantine or get tested. Drivers said they were pressured to come back to work even after showing COVID symptoms because Sygma was so short of drivers.

Sysco declined to provide any statistics on COVID infections, but CNBC unearthed an internal document saying that at least 13 employees at a distribution center in Michigan became infected in one week.

Sysco told CNBC that it has protocols in place to protect its workers. CNBC also quoted workers at a Sygma warehouse in Texas as saying guidelines are followed there, with one saying, “As far as taking care of us in every aspect, they do their very best to.”