In-N-Out bans employees from wearing masks in five states to improve customer service, show off 'smiles'
The policy is set to begin on Aug. 14, according to a leaked memo from In-N-Out
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Fast food giant In-N-Out is banning employees in five states from wearing masks, unless they have a medical note, according a memo leaked Friday.
Employees in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Colorado will be affected the policy, which is slated to start on Aug. 14, per the memo. The only states that are exceptions to the new policy are California and Oregon.
The policy is intended to bolster "customer service" by showing employees' "smiles and other facial features while considering the health and well-being of all individuals," as well as "help to promote clear and effective communication" in stores.
CALIFORNIA COUNTY REINSTATES INDOOR MASK MANDATE
Scenes from In-N-Out Burger. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)
If employees choose to provide a medical note for masking indoors, they must detail the "specific medical condition or health concern that requires them to wear a mask" to their manager. Even if approved, the employee must wear "a company-provided N-95 mask," per the memo.
"Failure to comply with this policy," the memo continued, "may result in appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, based on the severity and frequency of the violation."
California, In-N-Out's home state, was one of the strictest states in the country on masking violations during the pandemic.
Fox News Digital reported in June 2022 that Alameda County residents in California will be required to mask up in most public indoor settings, with local officials citing rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
This is not the first time that the California burger chain has come under attack for opposing COVID-era health policies like forced masking indoors.
Pedestrians walk below an In-N-Out Burger restaurant sign in San Francisco, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. ((AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) / AP Newsroom)
In-N-Out also came under media fire in 2021 after the company refused to check customer vaccination status when they entered stores.
"We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government," In-N-Out’s Chief Legal and Business Officer Arnie Wensinger said in a statement. "It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who may be served and those who may not, whether based on the documentation they carry, or any other reason."
In-N-Out's chief operating officer, Danny Warnick, explained why the company decided to ban masks in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"At In-N-Out Burger, we’ve communicated with our smiles since 1948, and a smiling Associate helps to set a warm and inviting atmosphere in our stores. We believe that wearing a mask literally adds a barrier to communication - much of which is nonverbal - and promotes a more distant and disconnected environment."
He continued: "In balancing these fundamental values while still accommodating the specific circumstances affecting our Associates, we have updated our internal guidelines to permit only those Associates with a medical need to wear a facemask while working."
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Fox News' Julia Musto contributed to this report.
