United Natural Foods Beats Covid-19-Based Wrongful Firing Suit

A United Natural Foods Inc. worker’s Covid-19-related wrongful discharge claim failed because an executive order by Pennsylvania’s governor and a related order by the commonwealth’s secretary of health don’t necessarily reflect Pennsylvania public policy, a federal judge in Harrisburg ruled.

Dennis Warner sued after he was fired in late May while attempting to return to work from self-quarantine after his Covid test came back negative. He was terminated because he filed a complaint regarding United Natural’s failure to properly sanitize the York, Pa., food distribution facility where he worked through an online portal established for that purpose by the Pennsylvania ...