Disney World workers reportedly suffered harassment, were spat on and subjected to degrading comments for enforcing the COVID-19 safety guidelines that the company established in the midst of the pandemic.
According to the Orange County sheriff reports released by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, Disney, hotel and Disney Springs theme park employees have been challenged by guests who have been asked to maintain their masks and social distance amid to COVID-19.
In one case, a man who was staying at one of the Disney hotels spat on a security guard after he was asked to put on a mask. The man was never identified or charged, according to the newspaper.
Another drunk man, Stephen Johnson, yelled at a fireman who was helping his injured wife after the fireman told him to put on a mask. Johnson threatened to kill the sheriff’s sheriff and took the policeman’s gun out of his belt, according to Sentinel.
Johnson was accused of assault on a police officer, assault on a police officer, resistance to a police officer with violence and disorderly intoxication.
“There is never a day when I don’t have a story,” an employee who works in Disney Springs parking garages to enforce COVID-19 rules told Sentinel. “I cried the first week that I started. It was not a good time. Imagine going to work every day, where people make fun of you. “
Allen Beltran was accused of disorderly intoxication and resistance to a non-violent police officer for taking off his mask and approaching people in Disney Springs in early January, according to the newspaper. He pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Service workers across the country reported outbursts of anger from customers who refused to comply with state mandates or business rules that demand masks and social detachment.
Last summer, a woman from California accessed Facebook to attack a Starbucks barista who she said refused to serve her because she was not wearing a mask. The woman, Amber Lynn Gilles, said she had a medical exemption. After the altercation, a GoFundMe page raised more than $ 100,000 for barista Lenin Gutierrez.
Gilles filed a lawsuit this week suing the creator of the page for “violating his right to publicity”.
The Orange County sheriff also claims that guests they shouted at the workers, threw things at them and pushed them and other customers.
“Millions of visitors visit our theme parks each year and, on rare occasions, when things like this happen, we hold them responsible,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger told Orlando Sentinel.