National workplace safety rules would protect employees from coronavirus and employers from lawsuits. Whenever we’re ready to re-open Covid-closed businesses, we’ll have to resolve some important questions about how to do so safely.
One of them: what kind of measures should businesses take to keep employees and customers safe, and how should business owners be held accountable if they play fast and loose with others’ health?
This debate over limiting liability has just begun, and it’s already taken a partisan turn. That’s unfortunate, because there’s a straightforward middle-ground solution available.
Republicans have called for federal legislation to render businesses immune from lawsuits; Democrats are skeptical of the whole idea.