Definitions Key as Biden Urges Benefits for Refusing Unsafe Work

Workers who refuse a job they consider unsafe might have an easier time getting unemployment benefits under a Biden administration proposal, but big questions remain around the policy’s specifics and how states will apply it.

President Joe Biden instructed the U.S. Labor Department to consider issuing guidance to clarify that “workers have a federally guaranteed right to refuse employment that will jeopardize their health” while still qualifying for unemployment benefits. The White House announced the policy Jan. 22 as one of many federal agency actions springing from an executive order aimed at economic relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A lot ...