Businesses face fines for coronavirus mask violations

RITZVILLE – Zip's Drive In restaurants in Ritzville, Colfax and Spokane Valley are three of several businesses recently fined by the Department of Labor and Industries for public mask violations.

The Department of Labor and Industries conducted more than 4,300 spot checks at businesses since mid-July, including multiple visits at some locations, according to Tim Church, Assistant Director of Communications, L & I. Church said eight employers have been fined for public mask violations. Additionally, three businesses who were originally the subject of public masking complaints, were instead cited for worker mask violations.

Zip's Drive In, Ritzville, was fined $2,400 for two violations according to Church. Violations cited were not requiring customers without masks to wear one; no signs requiring customers wear masks and no policy if they refused; and no social distancing markers or barrier between front-counter workers and customers.

Ritzville Zip's General Manager Whiskey Hilver declined to comment.

"Zip's Drive Ins are all separate businesses that operate slightly differently, even though we are under an umbrella brand name," said Tom McLain, general manager at Zip's Drive In, Colfax, which was fined $1800. Citations were for not requiring customers without masks to wear one; no signs requiring masks for customers; and no social distancing markers for customers, according to a press release from Church. The business has appealed.

McLain said the three citations were all received in one day.

"It's just like being stopped by a police officer. If they find multiple offenses, they may cite you multiple times," McLain said. "So according to the L & I, we had three different offenses, all of which were caused by people traveling from larger cities into our small town and essentially imposing their views on our business. Regardless of whether we were wearing the masks or not, and regardless of whether they were, that's exactly what these people did."

McLain said the citations came when a woman called L & I to complain.

"We had an older lady that was from out of town, from a larger city, who literally used this as an opportunity to signal to us her virtue in life," McLain said. "We look out for the safety on a daily basis - every single day of the year regardless of whether there's a pandemic or not - of every single person that comes through our building. That is one of our main jobs as a restaurant, to look out for the public health to make sure everything we do is in accordance with that. Regardless of what happened with not forcing our customers to wear masks."

McLain said the event took place sometime in August.

"They just started to look into this, because it is a hot topic with the election going on. Unfortunately, this mask mandate is a political issue. That's what it's become," McLain said. "It shouldn't be a political issue. It should be all about the public's health. But unfortunately it's a political issue, and the media and even the general public are using this as a political issue; saying, 'Well, if you're against masks, you're for Culp. If you're for masks, you're for Inslee.' And that's not the way it should be."

According to Church, L & I began looking into mask violations in mid-July, concerning more than 4,200 retailers, restaurants and other businesses in the state.

"In the vast majority of cases, the businesses that were violating the rules complied after L & I staff explained the requirements, or the initial complaints to the state were not substantiated," Church said. "Our goal is to get employers to comply with mask requirements through education and assistance, but if that doesn't work they can be cited and fined."

"It is a travesty in regards to what our governor - the government is doing to small businesses in the state of Washington," McLain said. "When the L & I inspector came in here, we were following every single rule, with the exception of mandating our customers to wear masks. The employees were wearing masks, and we were doing the proper procedures as far as PPE (personal protective equipment)."

McLain said he believed the government has been seen throughout this entire ordeal as "pushing their agenda."

"Because they cannot control the public, they are using L & I - an employee safety agency - in order to push these regulations through," McLain said, adding that the majority of the public tells him they don't feel the need to wear a mask in a restaurant, and those who don't feel safe choose to stay home.

"But we're wearing the masks to get this over with - to please the governor, so we can go back to living our lives. That's what this is about," McLain said. "Right now, we need to be worried about our neighbors, our friends, our families through this. We don't need to be fighting. We need to get back to America First. That's what we need to be doing. These small businesses are exactly what it takes to make this country."