MERIDIAN, Idaho — The owner of the Sunrise Cafe has a new policy for any employee who stays home because of a fever - he'll pay 100% of their day's wages, including what their average tips would be.
The new policy comes as the novel coronavirus spreads across the globe. There are no confirmed cases in Idaho yet, but Boomer Godsill says he's implementing the policy out of an abundance of caution.
"We're not too scared about the virus personally, but we do have some guests and some employees who can fall really ill if they got it," Godsill said. "So we want to make sure that [the employees] are OK financially, that they don't need to stress about missing work."
In the event multiple employees need the sick leave, Godsill says he won't have the staff to cover shifts but hopes customers will understand that he wants Sunrise employees to take care of themselves, and he doesn't want anyone to worry about getting sick at the cafe.
There are three Sunrise Cafe locations in Boise, two in Meridian and one in Middleton.
In Idaho, the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains low, according to officials. At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.
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