Apple Workers Receive Unlimited Sick Time For Signs Of The Coronavirus

To make sure its retail staffers are healthy, Apple is giving its hourly employees, with the inclusion of retail workers, unlimited sick leave if they experience coronavirus symptoms, 9to5Mac reported.

The tech company’s retail workers reportedly don’t have to send in a doctor’s note for their time away from work. As a result, they can take off the necessary time from work without the concern of giving management a note or running out of sick time.

Tim Cook delivered a memo to the tech company’s employees about the continuing COVID-19 outbreak during the weekend. Cook told Apple office workers in Seattle, California, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Switzerland that they can work from home during the week in the event that their “job allows” for it.

Cook also reportedly noted that retail shops are continuing to operate to help Apple clients. The company, however, is reportedly putting into place crowd control procedures i.e., scrapping a number of Today at Apple sessions and curtailing Genius Bar openings.

In separate news, Apple sold less than half a million smartphones in China in February as the coronavirus impacted demand. The country put limits on travel and requested that asked to stay clear of public places in January prior to the major gift-giving holiday of the Lunar New Year. The restrictions, for the most part, were in place for much of February.

Apple device shipments dropped to 494,000 from 1.27 million last year. Shipments were a bit higher than 2 million in January. IDC and Canalys have forecast in the past that overall smartphone shipments would drop roughly 40 percent in the first quarter as the outbreak of the coronavirus impacted demand.

It was also reported that Apple branded stores in China were shuttered for two weeks at a minimum last month amid increasing worries over the coronavirus.