165,000 Americans have died, tens of millions are out of work, schools are not able to safely reopen, and testing capacity is woefully inadequate. But in the midst of the pandemic, corporate lobbyists have a clear priority: near-total immunity for COVID-related lawsuits.
All of the states that have thus far passed COVID-19 immunity statutes are red states. Seems like it's in keeping with their mentality, too: "We're going to force you back to work, but we're also going to make sure that you have no legal recourse if you get hurt/sick once you go back. Oh, and we're also going to cut unemployment benefits, too."
I'd like to think your readers are pretty savvy and are aware of who and what ALEC represents, but if not, I'd encourage them to become familiar with an organization that has made catering legislatively to corporate and other moneyed interests (and thus combating the influence of money in politics) a full-time business.
There is an economic link between liability limits and unemployment compensation benefits that is being swept under the rug. If employers have no liability for coronavirus exposure risk, they can mandate with impunity that their employees return to work on-site. If employees refuse, they will be treated as having resigned voluntarily, so their EC eligibility will end. Consequently, a liability limitation would shift the economic impact of the pandemic to the segment of the population that can least afford it (and whose members are most vulnerable already).
Without a liability limit, the rampant transmissibility of the virus means that it will be almost impossible to “prove” (to the standard required in litigation) that anyone should be held legally responsible for a particular case of COVID-19. So the liability risk is minimal. A “standard of care” should evolve that would function as a safe harbor for employers who want/need their employees on-site. Masks, social distancing, plastic partitions, and other tools are known to reduce the transmission risk. Potential liability is a great incentive to adopt them, and putting them in place should be an adequate defense to liability. Eliminating these natural controls is unconscionable.
"In Tennessee, Gov Bill Lee called the General Assembly into a special session last week to 'address liability protections.' ... Yet, only two COVID-19 personal injury lawsuits have been filed in Tennessee – a figure that pales in comparison to the 119,788 total confirmed cases in the state."
Of course. Good ole boy Bill Lee is way more worried about liability than he is about the spread of Covid 19 in crowded bars, on packed party buses, and amongst shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians walking around downtown and along 2nd Avenue... The locals know to stay away but tourists are on their own.
Dastardly Mitch continues his political scourge on America by ‘protecting’ corporations against their minimum wage employees. So as the filthy rich CEOs sit in their Covid free ivory towers, summer homes and private islands, the underserved, underrepresented, working poor risk their lives in unsafe working environments with absolutely no legal options. What a guy!
All of the states that have thus far passed COVID-19 immunity statutes are red states. Seems like it's in keeping with their mentality, too: "We're going to force you back to work, but we're also going to make sure that you have no legal recourse if you get hurt/sick once you go back. Oh, and we're also going to cut unemployment benefits, too."
I'd like to think your readers are pretty savvy and are aware of who and what ALEC represents, but if not, I'd encourage them to become familiar with an organization that has made catering legislatively to corporate and other moneyed interests (and thus combating the influence of money in politics) a full-time business.
There is an economic link between liability limits and unemployment compensation benefits that is being swept under the rug. If employers have no liability for coronavirus exposure risk, they can mandate with impunity that their employees return to work on-site. If employees refuse, they will be treated as having resigned voluntarily, so their EC eligibility will end. Consequently, a liability limitation would shift the economic impact of the pandemic to the segment of the population that can least afford it (and whose members are most vulnerable already).
Without a liability limit, the rampant transmissibility of the virus means that it will be almost impossible to “prove” (to the standard required in litigation) that anyone should be held legally responsible for a particular case of COVID-19. So the liability risk is minimal. A “standard of care” should evolve that would function as a safe harbor for employers who want/need their employees on-site. Masks, social distancing, plastic partitions, and other tools are known to reduce the transmission risk. Potential liability is a great incentive to adopt them, and putting them in place should be an adequate defense to liability. Eliminating these natural controls is unconscionable.
Most red states, iirc, are also "right to work" states - which means they have no guidance, clout or protection by unions... or organized labor.
Sounds about right.
Once again Judd has held corporate feet to the fire and gotten results. So happy Kodak’s shenanigans are being investigated. THANK YOU, JUDD!!
"In Tennessee, Gov Bill Lee called the General Assembly into a special session last week to 'address liability protections.' ... Yet, only two COVID-19 personal injury lawsuits have been filed in Tennessee – a figure that pales in comparison to the 119,788 total confirmed cases in the state."
Of course. Good ole boy Bill Lee is way more worried about liability than he is about the spread of Covid 19 in crowded bars, on packed party buses, and amongst shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians walking around downtown and along 2nd Avenue... The locals know to stay away but tourists are on their own.
Dastardly Mitch continues his political scourge on America by ‘protecting’ corporations against their minimum wage employees. So as the filthy rich CEOs sit in their Covid free ivory towers, summer homes and private islands, the underserved, underrepresented, working poor risk their lives in unsafe working environments with absolutely no legal options. What a guy!