Walgreens chooses to fight Cicero Face Mask order
Walgreens, which operates three retail store locations in the Town of Cicero, has decided to fight a Cicero Executive Order requiring essential businesses to require employees and customers to wear face masks.
Town President Larry Dominick and the Town of Cicero Board issued the face mask requirement in April requiring employees and customers of every retail establishment to wear a face mask during business hours for health and safety reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Town of Cicero has issued 8 citations to Walgreens for violating the Executive Order. Each citation carries a penalty of $750. They are up for review before the Town’s administration Court Wednesday morning.
“It’s a basic health and safety issue for their customers but Walgreens refuses to adhere to the executive order. We feel they are putting their customers and employees at risk to the coronavirus,” said Cicero Town Spokesman Ray Hanania.
“We have tried to work with Walgreens and have offered to reduce the fines significantly because our first concern is the safety and health of the public. Instead, Walgreens hired a law firm to fight the order and will appear at the Town’s administrative hearing on Wednesday morning.”
The Executive Order, which President Dominick issued on April 15 using his statutory powers, includes 13 very specific provisions regarding health safety practices for essential businesses and for customers who enter those businesses. They include:
SECTION 1: Effective April 15, 2020, all employees and visitors of any grocery store, pharmacy or drug store, convenience store, gas station, and all other essential businesses as defined in Executive Order 2020-18 (collectively, the “Essential Businesses” and singularly, the “Essential Business”) shall wear a face covering as recommended by the CDC, while on the premises.
SECTION 2: Essential Businesses and/or employers must provide, at their expense, such face coverings for all employees working in the establishment.
SECTION 3: If a visitor refuses to wear a face covering while on the premises of an Essential Business, the Essential Business must decline entry to the visitor.
You can click this link to read the full text of the Executive Order by clicking this link.
Town officials said they believe the refusal to follow the executive order is directed by Walgreens’ corporate offices, not locally.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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