WASHINGTON (AP) — A new plan from Senate Republicans to award businesses, schools, and universities sweeping exemptions from lawsuits arising from inadequate coronavirus safeguards is putting Republicans and Democrats at loggerheads as Congress reconvenes next week to negotiate another relief package. The liability proposal, drafted by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and senior Republican John Cornyn of Texas, promises to shield employers when customers and workers are exposed to coronavirus by moving lawsuits to federal court and limiting legal liability to acts of “gross negligence or intentional misconduct,” according to a draft of the plan obtained by The Associated Press. Supporters say the plan protects businesses and other employers who adhere to public-health guidelines in good faith. Opponents argue it will permit wrongdoing to go unpunished. It’s up to Congress to resolve the debate, with the outcome likely to determine what legal recourse is available to Americans who contract the virus. “Even if businesses and hospitals follow all the relevant guidelines and act in good faith, they could end up fighting a very long and a very expensive lawsuit,” Cornyn said. “They could end up winning that lawsuit, but they could also end up going bankrupt in the process. In the courts, gross negligence amounts to “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, which is a high standard to meet. Ordinary negligence, by contrast, occurs when a business owner fails to take reasonable precautions to protect people from the COVID-19 threat. The GOP’s proposed standard would apply retroactively to when the coronavirus began to circulate in December and would extend through at least 2024. McConnell has said for months that some form of liability shield will be in the next COVID response measure, telling an audience in Kentucky on Wednesday that he won’t send the next, and fifth, coronavirus response bill to the floor without it. The liability shield is just one of the difficult issues confronting lawmakers as they launch into negotiations over another coronavirus bill with competing priorities. Other major battles involve whether to renew a $600 per-week bonus federal unemployment benefit, how much assistance to send state and local governments, and whether to indulge President Donald Trump’s wish to Social Security payroll taxes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is firmly on the opposite side of the liability plan, pressing instead for emergency workplace regulations to protect paramedics, emergency medical personnel, and other health care workers at risk of exposure to COVID-19 in their workplace. The $3.5 trillion House Democratic measure, passed two months ago, requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to issue emergency temporary workplace COVID safety standards for employers immediately upon enactment of the bill. That’s a nonstarter with the GOP. “They have resisted, in the past, any strong OSHA standard, and that is absolutely essential for us to have to protect our workers, at all times, but an even stronger one at the time of coronavirus,” Pelosi said on Thursday. The nation’s trial lawyers have traditionally held great influence with congressional Democrats and while they have absorbed some defeats over the years, they cannot be discounted as a lobbying force. Earlier this year, for instance, a minor liability issue involving face-masks became a huge behind-the-scenes struggle before manufacturers such as 3M prevailed. The Republican proposal, which was distributed only in summary form, offers a broad shield by requiring heightened pleading standards stiffening burden-of-proof standards, and capping damages on awards. Employers would also be shielded from investigations by federal agencies. Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York aren’t closing the door completely on McConnell’s demand. The liability shield is a top priority of not just the GOP’s corporate allies but also of colleges and local school districts. “This is a critical issue for a wide range of employers from distillers who switched to producing hand sanitizers, to manufacturers that transformed their operations to construct personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators, to front line medical professionals treating the afflicted,” said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a letter this week to top Capitol Hill leaders. Advocates for the liability shield know they are in for a huge fight. Given McConnell’s determination on the issue, it’s likely some variant of the liability shield will pass, but it’s sure to be scaled back significantly. Pelosi is also adept at trading concessions on GOP priorities for additional funding, and the liability issue promises to be among the final items resolved when negotiations wrap up next month, along with unemployment benefits. “I think it’s interesting that the first proposal that Republicans are offering is something that they negotiated with lobbyists that protects big corporations,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday. https://apnews.com/97196fa5f70f07a2e46cdd27b74f496d
So we don't have to protect people. We have to protect businesses from not protecting people. 'Merica!
God how are people so blind that one side of the aisle doesnt care about the person, just the business. Were all just assets to a republican. WAKE UP.
Best thing you can say about today's GOP is they at least do not try to hide their disdain for their constitutes
Someone has to point out the opposing view; I guess it might as well be me. I know emotions are running high right now, and I know that most of you are by nature prone to considering pro-business legislation as being inherently anti-worker, but I really wonder if that's the case here. How can businesses begin to start to bring employees back from furlough and get the wheels of the economy going if employees are able to file lawsuits against them for millions of dollars when they come down with Covid-19? Other than government workers, corporations and small businesses employ most of the workers in the country. Virtually everything that we buy is produced by these businesses (if it's not imported from China). If people go back to work, they're going to be exposed to the virus and some are going to get sick. Barring a vaccine that works effectively (which is looking less and less likely), is there a way to avoid that possibility? If a business is doing what it can to minimize risk, should employees be able to sue when disease hits? I'm not saying that corporations should be immune from suits if there is negligence on their part, and I don't know if this bill is so broad that it gives cover where it shouldn't, but nuisance suits could definitely be a major hindrance to getting the economy going and continuing to provide for the goods and services we need.
all of that is logical the problem is who is proposing the protections. It's almost certain a proposal by the R's will go much further than necessary. We still don't have any real idea of where the hundreds of billions of dollars in the stimulus went because of the way the R's wrote the legislation. it's just about guaranteed the standards of this legislation will be basically no standards at all. It will be a Ron Desantis wet dream. It will allow just about any corporation to have absolutely no regard at all for their employees or their customers. If the R's want a law like this then we should have a set of national standards on Covid protections for employees
Well, the D's will get a chance to make "reasonable" changes when the House gets the legislation. Of course, there's not a whole lot of "reasonable" on either side of the aisle right now, which is why I suspect that this law will go nowhere fast.
You raise good points but there have been multiple examples of companies across the country not telling employees or local and state governments about covid outbreaks in the workplace. What about employees that do get sick and either don't have sick time as a benefit or quickly uses up their sick time? What about employees that are temporarily laid off who have lost their healthcare or employees who get sick, exhaust their sick leave and then lose their healthcare benefits? What about businesses that are currently working hard to keep their stores safe for customers by extra cleaning and other precautions that suddenly don't have an incentive to do so? What about someplace like Disney World who no longer has to care if their guests get sick? The possibility of being sued is a strong motivator for businesses to do the right thing for employees and customers. What's being proposed is not in the best interest for the employees and customers.
What's being proposed is the Republican's take on what's needed. The Senate doesn't get to adopt a law without the House's agreement. That's going to take some compromise or it will go nowhere. I'm betting on the latter.
Some protection against frivolous lawsuits is fine. The problem is that the Republican bill sets the bar for lawsuit at "gross" negligence, not even negligence. In the courts, gross negligence amounts to “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, which is a high standard to meet. Ordinary negligence, by contrast, occurs when a business owner fails to take reasonable precautions to protect people from the COVID-19 threat. The GOP’s proposed standard would apply retroactively to when the coronavirus began to circulate in December and would extend through at least 2024. And yes, nothing can happen with Democrats in the House getting a say, but McConnell is saying that no further COVID-19 response bills will happen without this provision. Which implies he will hold any further aid hostage to this.
just as I said...the R's can't do anything without going to extremes. Those are absurd provisions, even as a starting point for negotiations. It's basically a poison pill; and after the corruption of the stimulus bill the D's got steamrolled into, the D's need to tell the R's to pound sand
And they are holding stimulus to the people hostage. They want to leverage stimulus payments to Anwricans to get their poison pill put in. The game is either the Dems fold and accept the pill or tell Mitch to fuck off and get blamed for postponing a 2nd round of stimulus checks to American families. Hopefully, it backfires on the GOP
