State Emergency Workplace Rules Spark a New Epidemic: Litigation

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia has resisted calls for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to create a national emergency rule to protect workers from the coronavirus pandemic, relying instead on existing safety law, prompting several states to promulgate rules of their own.

The result, management side attorneys say, will almost certainly be lawsuits against those places that have taken Covid-19 safety protocols into their own hands.

“The challenges could come from either side—from businesses who say agencies didn’t follow proper rulemaking and challenges can come from safety advocates who say this rule isn’t going far enough,” says Aaron R. Gelb, ...