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Fighting Vulnerable Workers Instead Of The Virus
Everyone wants to get tough on the coronavirus, but so far that has proven difficult.
Unfortunately, rather than redoubling efforts in that fight, some are seeking an easier target: vulnerable low-wage workers.
Cynical politicians are threatening the workers most at risk of infection, many of whom face heightened risks of serious illness or death. Some of these threats are fraudulent, ugly bluffs. The very fact that they are being made, however, tells us something ugly about how we are responding to this crisis.
Most prominently, several Republican governors have announced plans to deny unemployment compensation to those refusing to work under conditions where they risk infection. The idea is that the recession will force workers to sacrifice their health to keep their families fed.
In fact, workers refusing to risk infection on the job should not lose eligibility for unemployment benefits. To be sure, states have rules disqualifying claimants that “voluntarily quit” their jobs, but even in normal times, state law recognizes that risks to workers’ health and safety render refusals to work anything but “voluntary.” The Montana Supreme Court warned that “an employee need not wait to be seriously injured before acting to remove himself from an unsafe working environment.”
For example, Missouri approved benefits for claimants who left a plant where untrained workers were handling dangerous chemicals in crowded conditions, releasing noxious fumes. This sounds like conditions at the factories that have become coronavirus hotspots.
SOURCE ⇒ THEHILL
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