Without employees that the employers aren’t opening anything. And if my employer said “I’m open, it’s safe, trust me. But don’t think of suing if you get sick because I’m protected.” I’m not sure how anxious I would be to go back.
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I get the point. But perhaps a more inhibiting thing influencing the employees’ desire to return to work is the $600 per week supplemental unemployment payments. That $600 added to the state’s unemployment weekly payment makes the total payment quite “sticky” in holding employees back from return to work. I think that will be the main hindering factor and the “safety” issue more of an excuse. That’s only IMHO of course.
Not really. Iowa announced that if a person is called back to work by their pre-Covid employer and they refuse to go then they lose their unemployment. I've no doubt other states will do the same.