Some contract workers in America's fast food restaurants, hospitals and warehouses could find it harder to demand equipment and other measures to protect them from the coronavirus under a new labor agency rule, according to workers' advocates and unions.
In March, the Department of Labor made a similar change to the definition of joint employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs pay and overtime.
But workers are scared of getting infected and some have staged protests over fears they are being exposed at work to the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease. At least 60,000 people have died in the United States, the most in the world, according to a Reuters tally.
As a result, the hospital management would have no legal duty under federal labor law to come to the bargaining table and negotiate with the janitors over safety. King of the HR Policy Association said that under the old precedent even giving a training video to contract workers could have made the company a joint employer and by extension possibly liable for labor violations by a contract staffing company.
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