COVID-19 Liability Protections are a Really, Really Bad Idea
To protect businesses, Mitch McConnell is willing to let America’s economy go over the edge
For the last several months, Congress — especially the US Senate — has behaved like a person who, upon seeing their home ablaze, decides to watch the conflagration for a while, to see how bad it gets. Rather than contacting the fire department, they watch the fire grow larger, hoping the fire will go out on its own.
I’m referring, of course, to Washington’s COVID-19 negotiations or, more accurately, the lack of them. The last six months have been like watching a masterclass in governmental ineptitude. To say people are suffering is an understatement.
We’re headed for an economic cliff
By month’s end, millions will see their unemployment benefits end. Additionally, eviction moratoriums will expire by month’s end. The timing couldn’t be worse.
Just this week, the Labor Department reported 853,000 jobless claims for state unemployment benefits for the week, an increase of 137,000 from the previous week. Roughly 29% of Black and 17% of Hispanic renters are behind on their rent and utilities. Retail stores and law enforcement report a rise in shoplifting of basic necessities, underscoring the severe food insecurity levels.
Why has Congress allowed things to get so close to the edge? Indeed, there is plenty of blame to go around. That said, the federal government's lack of financial help is hardly a ‘both sides’ equation.
To their credit, House Democrats passed the HEROES Act in May to continue areas of the CARES Act set to expire at the end of June. The proposed bill offered additional help for states, another round of direct payments, and an extension of the $600 unemployment boost.
To almost no one’s surprise, Republicans balked at the bill’s $3 trillion price tag. So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered to meet the Republicans halfway, ultimately chopping more than $2 trillion from the original package. More recently, Pelosi endorsed a bipartisan group that negotiated a compromise, only to be rebuffed by McConnell.
Amid the finger-pointing, it’s almost easy to forget that Republicans control both the Senate and the White House. At any time in the last seven months, the Senate could have amended the HEROES Act, using it as the foundation for a final deal.
What’s holding up COVID-19 relief?
McConnell’s dealbreaker for passing COVID-19 relief is liability protection for businesses. The degree to which he wants to shield companies absurd:
“The liability proposal from McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would preempt state laws until 2024, requiring complainants to prove in federal court that a business or other institution essentially got them sick on purpose, while also providing an inventory of every place they visited and every person who came to their home in the two weeks before the onset of symptoms ― and that’s before a trial could even start. Companies would be able to sue people just for making settlement demands, and U.S. attorneys could then prosecute them.”
Why would McConnell risk carnage ahead to keep big business off the hook amid so much personal suffering? Last May, I wrote about how the GOP views the economy:
“As far as the GOP is concerned, business — big business, in particular — is the economy. They think business drives the economy, not people. To them corporations are the automobile, CEOs drive the car, and employees are the replacement parts.That is why they are fine with opening a meatpacking facility filled with folks working elbow to elbow, in a toxic soup of sickness. It is also why they don’t mind if your unemployment runs out, or if you can’t pay rent next month. They think you’re getting too much help in the first place.They’ve seen the numbers, so they know there aren’t enough jobs to go around. But instead of worrying about how you’ll pay your car payment next month, they want to make sure Ford keeps making cars.That is why they need you to get back to work, to ‘re-open’ the economy, despite the unhealthy working conditions. And if you have the gall not go back to your bartending job or your call center job, for fear of getting sick or, God forbid, taking sickness home to your family — then bye-bye unemployment.”
That mindset is one reason Republicans focus on reducing a business’s liability instead of protecting its employees. It’s why they aren’t concerned when we discover corporate managers placing bets on the number of their employees who will get sick from COVID-19. And that approach has consequences.
Here’s a real-life example of the problem with McConnell’s liability protections
My family resides on an island in North Carolina. Like most beach towns, tourism is essential to the economic health of our town. Since the pandemic, all manner of businesses suffered, especially restaurants. Many local bars and restaurants have struggled to stay alive while operating at significantly less capacity.
As is the case with restaurants around the country, the restaurant has opened and closed several times due to employees who tested positive for coronavirus. Because of this, when I heard that they’d shut down again a few days ago, I wasn’t surprised. But this time, the circumstances surrounding the closure were different. Here’s the story I’ve pieced together so far:
It seems that a server at the restaurant tested positive for COVID-19 but withheld the information, continuing to work —and interact with customers — for two days. To make matters worse, at least one of the restaurant’s managers knew the employee had tested positive but took no action for at least two days.
That means every employee working those two days should quarantine. It also means every customer who ate there during those two days was probably exposed, so they should quarantine, not to mention the people they’ve been around, and so on. But how would the restaurant contact them?
Let’s take this scenario a step further. Suppose one of the employees exposed to the super spreader employee gets sick with COVID-19 and dies. Or maybe a customer, who happens to be asymptomatic, takes the disease home to their asthmatic child. From Mitch McConnell’s point of view, neither the restaurant nor the manager who took no action should bear any liability.
Based on McConnell’s proposal, any server or customer who tries to sue the restaurant risks litigation by the restaurant and possible criminal prosecution. And Mitch McConnell is willing to watch the economy crash and burn if he doesn’t get his way.
