LOS ANGELES — A hotel housekeeper who works for minimum wage.
A downtown lawyer with a six-figure salary.
A Disneyland parking attendant who supports four sons.
A rural schoolteacher whose husband has lung disease.
What they have in common: fear.
Also anger, confusion and frustration with California’s roller-coaster coronavirus economy in which workplaces close and open and close again, rules for those that remain open can change by the day, and enforcement often seems lax.
Amid soaring infections and hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom this month again shut down a large swath of businesses across the state, including dine-in restaurants, bars, movie theaters, card rooms, gyms, hair salons and some offices.
Nonetheless, thousands of employees who have been furloughed or able to work from home since March are being called back to physical workplaces.
Many, especially those backed by powerful labor unions, are resisting. They cite the failure of employers over the last four months to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks, even in hospitals, nursing homes, fast-food outlets, grocery stores and warehouses where workers were deemed “essential” by the state.