Let's Make This Rock: Trader Joe’s Activism Opportunity!!

This is an open letter from Allan Stevo:

This isn't a brusque protest for a YouTube audience, but I think it has a potential to have even more impact.

At the bottom of this email is a letter that I sent to Trader Joe's last week which is already having an impact on their corporate face mask policy and implementation.

I'd like to ask your help in pushing that activism further ahead by sending the following email to the CEO.

I encourage you to alter this email in any way you see fit and to send it from your email address to the inbox of the CEO of Trader Joe's.

Everything you need is below and my original email is attached in case you would like to have a look.

Respectfully,
Allan Stevo

P.S. Please send this email below to the CEO of Trader Joe’s to let them know what you think of their awful face mask policies.

Letter to be sent to Trader Joe's:

Trader Joe's CEO: Daniel T. Bane
Email address: dbane@traderjoes.com

Dear Mr. Bane,

I am writing to inquire about Allan Stevo’s April 29, 2021 letter on disability discrimination against employees and customers at Trader Joe’s.

I am in full support of the letter and would like be CC’d when you respond to that letter. Also I ask you to make your response to that letter public, on your website and via press release. It is attached here in case you have not yet seen it.

Also, I am writing to comment on the chilling effect created by the words “required” in your face mask policy, the discriminatory behavior of only allowing one handicapped person in the store at a time, and the embarrassing medical exemption cart which singles out customers shamefully. All three of these policies must be ended.

It is fine for Trader Joe’s to recommend face mask use, but it is wholly inappropriate to require face mask use. Better is expected of your store.

Respectfully,

 Allan Stevo's original letter to Trader Joe's:

 

MY BODY,  

MY CHOICE  

MBMChoice.org 

Thursday, April 29, 2021
Daniel T. Bane 
CEO, Trader Joe’s  
800 South Shamrock Avenue 
Monrovia, CA 91016 
dbane@traderjoes.com 

 

Re: DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION REPORTS AT TRADER JOE’S 

        Dear Daniel T. Bane,  

I represent a membership-based health freedom organization that focuses on promoting individual  approaches to health. We are active in identifying and preventing illegal and unethical one-size-fits all policies.

Our membership has drawn my attention to your policies around Covid-19 and mandatory face  masking. 

• We have taken note of the difficulty involved in invoking legitimate exemptions at your business  on several occasions. If you need further details on that I invite you to contact me. 

• I’m writing to ask for a copy of your written policy around face masks, and I am also writing to  request any documentation you are willing to share around how employees are trained to handle  exemptions when invoked by a customer. 

The amount of difficulty we’ve received complaints on is troubling. 

 As you know, we have a proud history in the United States of avoiding one-size-fits-all approaches  and making clear individual accommodation when it comes to ability and disability, medical  advantages and disadvantages, psychological conditions and psychological benefits

As you may also know, there are several state attorneys general currently investigating and bringing  legal actions on this topic against businesses that do not comply with America’s proud history of  allowing for individual accommodations. 

Below is a list of statements that I hope we are in agreement about and in which your employees  may require additional training. 

• Inquiries about specifics of a condition are not appropriate. 

• Demands for a doctor’s note are not appropriate. 

• Elevated tension with someone seeking accommodation is not appropriate. 

• Snide comments are not appropriate.

• Insisting someone wait at the curb for their groceries is not appropriate.

• Insisting someone shop at specific hours is not appropriate. 

• Asking someone to cover their mouth with a Kleenex while shopping is not appropriate.

 • Discriminating against one customer for the comfort of another customer is not appropriate.

 • Polling other customers on whether someone looks healthy is not appropriate. 

• Encouraging customers to “give a piece of your mind” to someone seeking accommodation  is not appropriate. 

• Asking someone to “wear a mask until they can’t tolerate it any longer,” “for the comfort of  our customers” is not appropriate. 

• It is not appropriate to present other complicated hoops for a customer to jump through in  order to obtain accommodation to a face mask policy. An individual asking for an  accommodation deserves generosity rather than an attempt to make them pay recompense  for an inability to comply.  

• Discouraging someone from entering your store in response to a request for  accommodation is not appropriate. 

• Insisting a customer use a third party shopping service rather than having the ability to read  labels, choose produce and select flowers is not appropriate. 

• Denying entry to a person with a medical condition because they are “a health hazard” is not  appropriate. 

• Laughing the phrase “no shoes, no shirt, no service” at a customer seeking accommodation  and pointing them out the door is not appropriate. 

• “We follow local orders,” is a dishonest statement to make while discriminating against a  customer, as every one of the 3,300 plus counties in the United States provide exemptions,  as do all state orders, and federal executive orders.

I would like to request acknowledgement from you or a member of your team that we are in  agreement on these topics. 

Furthermore, it has come to our attention that this is not only a problem as it relates to customers.  Employees of yours have been unable to seek individual accommodation when they are unable to  wear face masks safely. 

This is troubling to hear during these difficult economic times. Employees forced to leave a position  because a supervisor is unwilling to make an accommodation is particularly troubling to hear. 

No body of law in the United States gives credence to such behavior. 
I’d like you to please also send me your policy regarding employees opting out of face mask use. 

I am writing to put you on notice of this behavior and to seek assurance from you that such behavior  will be taken seriously, will not be tolerated, and will come to a prompt end throughout your  company. 

Respectfully, 


Allan Stevo 
Executive Director
My Body, My Choice

 -RW