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Realityland's David Koenig

Queasy Cast Members, Get Lost!

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The latest cast member joke making the rounds at Disneyland is that if you feel ill at work, whatever you do, don’t go to Cast First Aid.

Only it’s no joke. Employees have been instructed by management not to visit the shiny new first aid facility except for serious work-related injuries or illneses. The new policy is that sick cast members are to be automatically sent home.

If a cast member suffers a boo-boo, for example, he will first have to go to his department office’s “Comfort Kit.” The kits are stocked by Cast First Aid with Band-aids, antacid, Tylenol, etc.

Two theories have popped up to explain the new policy: first, that the Legal Department might be to blame, picking up on the trend of the last 10 years for employers to reduce their liability of misdiagnosing and mistreating employees’ health (such as refusing to hand out aspirin unless it comes individually prepackaged).

Second, the spacious new Cast Health facility, which opened January 6, may be understaffed, so Disney wants to devote its nurses’ time to more serious problems.

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Comments

  1. olegc's Avatar
    just make all hourly employees contractors with 1099s and offer them a med plan with an exchange, and tell them they're on their own others. Its almost like that anyway.
  2. Disneylandfanguy's Avatar
    "Only it’s no joke. Employees have been instructed by management not to visit the shiny new first aid facility except for serious work-related injuries or illneses. The new policy is that sick cast members are to be automatically sent home."

    Isn't that just common sense? if an employee is sick, why would they be at work to spread germs to everyone? How is this news?

    (Seriously, could someone please explain me how this is newsworthy or unusual?)

    With all due respect, you seem to just be sensationalizing. The title alone is slanted. But then again, I suppose that is just a common journalism practice, especially in this day and age, where every online journalist is trying to attract readers.

    I can't wait for you to post an article about sick cast members working blaming Disney and saying "Disney should have let them stay at home, instead of making them work."

    Being a watchdog is one thing, but you seem to have an axe to grind and it seems that you are trying to smear Disney every in any desperate way possible.

    Back years ago, when park maintenance was terrible and guests were tragically losing their lives, you were doing an honorable thing, but now you are just trying to make Disney look controversial whenever possible.
  3. Drince88's Avatar
    We are instructed that ANYTHING requiring first aid while on the job is to be reported through our 'medical reporting' hotline. Is Disney doing this to get around getting artificially inflated OSHA numbers?
  4. davidgra's Avatar
    Disneylandfanguy, I don't really think this is sensationalizing. To answer your question about cast members being automatically sent home -- not every visit to a medical facility or first-aid station is about contagious disease. If a cast member gets a scratch and is bleeding, treatment with an antiseptic and a bandage may be all that's required, and that cast member really wouldn't NEED to take the rest of the day off.

    The point here is that Disneyland appears to no longer be able to take things on a case-ny-case basis, and must follow one rule, no matter the situation.
  5. WDW heart's Avatar
    I work in the medical field. Any reports of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea results in the employee being sent home. Seems pretty common sense to me.