Covid-Fearing Meatpackers Lose Fight With U.S. Safety Regulator

A judge refused a first-of-its-kind request by Pennsylvania meatpackers to order the U.S. Labor Department to do more to protect them from Covid-19 after as many as half the workers were infected.

U.S. District Judge Malachy Mannion said he had “serious concerns” about whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fulfilled its duty to police workplace conditions at a plant run by Maid-Rite Specialty Foods LLC, but said he lacked the authority to act.

He said federal law only allows him to order employers to make changes requested by the Labor Department or if a federal inspector recommends the changes ...