Can America Reopen Safely?

Business and education are interconnected as never before. Nearly 18 million Americans remain unemployed. For many, their ability to return to work is contingent upon schools reopening in September, unless there are enough babysitters to go around.

As Congress returned to session this week to consider round two of a COVID-19 relief bill, the business community is banking on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to keep his promise that he will block any measure unless it contains an overhaul to liability laws that would protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits from workers claiming on-the-job infections.

Here, McConnell is finding bipartisan support.

During a Zoom conference sponsored last Thursday by Politico, in which Mishpacha participated, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, said the burden of proof should be on an employee who claims medical expenses and lost wages.

“In American jurisprudence, in an automobile accident, the one who caused the accident has to pay,” Rep. Scott said. “You [should] have to prove you were infected on the job, not on the way to work or on the beach the weekend before.”