LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Baristas at Heine Brothers' Coffee have threatened a collective sick-out until the Louisville-based coffee chain meets workers' demands amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But baristas still showed up for work and all stores were open on Friday, said Mike Mays, Heine Brothers' president and co-founder.

In a note sent to Heine Brothers' leadership team Thursday afternoon, baristas requested that they are given the choice to receive more personal protective equipment and make a hazard pay, or to be temporarily "laid off due to the COVID-19 outbreak" so they can file for unemployment and Medicaid benefits.

"Some of our locations have still been quite busy, with 200+ customers per day, and that number of contacts makes it almost inevitable that we will catch and spread COVID-19," the letter reads.

"We love our jobs, but we really do not want to be harmed or cause devastating harm because of them," the baristas added.

Also:New COVID-19 cases reported at Amazon's Shepherdsville and Jeffersonville facilities

The baristas finished by saying "until we are given this option to choose for ourselves, we will be doing what is necessary to keep ourselves and our communities safe by staging a collective sick-out" starting on Friday.

The letter comes one day after the company learned that an employee tested positive for the coronavirus at its Veterans Parkway location in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on Wednesday. Mays said the employee had not been at the store since March 11 and had not been had not been near another store employee for 14 days. Out of an abundance of caution, the store temporarily closed for a cleaning and is set to reopen on Friday.

Mays told The Courier Journal on Friday that he founded the company "with a commitment to being about more than just profit, and we have, and will continue to, walk that talk."

"There is no road map for the current situation," Mays said in an emailed statement. "We are just trying our best to simultaneously balance three equally important goals: 1) do our best to keep our employees and our customers safe, 2) keep as many people employed as we can, and 3) keep our company in business."

Mays said that the company is encouraging employees to wear masks, but that Heine Brothers' will not acquire personalized protective equipment "at the expense of front-line healthcare workers." The company is working on other safety measures, such as minimizing touch points.

As for pay, Mays said that Heine Brothers' sales have declined by 40% over the past three weeks and that the company does not have money to provide additional pay to employees at this moment. He added that the company has made unemployment resources available to employees and is being flexible with those who think it is the best choice for them.

"I am fighting with everything I have to make sure those employees who need or want to work have a job and so that our company still exists when this pandemic has passed," Mays said.

Also:How a church revival in a small Kentucky town led to a deadly coronavirus outbreak

Opening up its first shop in the Highlands in 1994, Heine Brothers' has 18 locations in the Kentuckiana area.

The Heine Brothers' baristas also started an online petition on their demands. It had a little more than 1,000 signatures Friday morning.

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.