No Covid Citations Against Maid-Rite Moots Safety Suit, DOL Says

The U.S. Labor Department wants a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that accused it of failing to protect meatpacking workers from Covid-19 dangers at a Pennsylvania plant, arguing that a subagency’s recent decision not to cite the employer for safety hazards renders the case moot.

In a Jan. 12 court filing, the Labor Department presented a letter by Michael J. Rivera, regional administrator of the Philadelphia office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, that outlined why the agency declined in December to cite Maid-Rite Specialty Foods after an inspection of the company’s Dunmore, Pa., facilities.

The letter was ...