To Restart Business, Protect Workers

摘要

States that are reopening their economies even as cases of Covid-19 are still rising are threatening their own residents and the whole country. But they're also running into two challenges that all states will face: Employees don't want to return to work if they fear exposure to the coronavirus on the job, and employers don't want to get sued if their workers or customers end up sick. Both concerns are reasonable, and both could further cripple the economy unless Congress steps in. It's essential that companies take actions that protect their employees, yet they're getting little federal guidance in what exactly that means. Even those that take every conceivable precaution, however, will face unprecedented liability concerns that could paralyze investment and prevent them from rehir-ing workers they may have laid off or furloughed. To protect employees, the federal government should outline safeguards companies should be taking at a minimum-and offer a legal safe harbor to those that adopt and follow them. We know that workplaces are potential hotbeds for the virus. By early April, more than 9,000 American healthcare workers had already come down with Covid-19. At least 170 meat processing plants had outbreaks, infecting 11,500. Clerks and cashiers have been similarly hard hit. As the world returns to work, those numbers will surely worsen.