Who decides jobs are ‘essential’ in pandemic? Some workers upset by vague definitions
Across the U.S., state leaders have issued stringent orders requiring everyone aside from “essential” workers to hunker down at home amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Varying definitions over which services and industries are considered critical during this time, however, have raised questions among workers worried about being exposed to the fast-spreading virus.
As of April 13, the United States had over 570,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 23,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.
While state and local authorities have largely been left in charge of determining which businesses will continue operating and which won’t amid the outbreak, the 2013 Essential Services Act narrowly defines a business and its employees as “essential” if they perform work involving the protection of property or the preservation of human life, Fox News reported.
More recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a list of 14 “Essential Critical Infrastructure Worker” categories that are crucial to fighting the pandemic that include law enforcement officers, first responders, public health workers, energy employees, food and agriculture workers, financial services staff and mass transit workers.
But what about employees who aren’t on the list? Such as workers for arts and crafts retailer JOANN who too have been deemed “essential” — by their employer — because the store sells materials needed to make makeshift face masks recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
GameStop, a video game and consumer electronics seller, had also resisted closure by arguing that many of its products, including computer mouses and keyboards, are “essential” to people now forced to work from home. The company’s tepid response to the COVID-19 outbreak has left some of its employees frustrated.
“Been with company almost a decade. This is indefensible,” one told gaming website Kotaku.
Other businesses have been accused of stretching the definition of “essential” to fit their needs and remain open amid the pandemic, which has shuttered thousands of nonessential businesses nationwide. Workers who still have their jobs said they’re grateful but are worried about the risk to their health.
“It is a constant balancing act between protecting their employees and keeping their business running so their employees — and the owners — have jobs,” Kabrina Chang, an associate professor of business law and ethics at Boston University, told Bloomberg. “We just have to keep trying our best to do the right thing, which gets harder and harder the more precarious and desperate people and businesses feel.”
Office Depot is among the stores that has kept its doors open, but employees there told BuzzFeed News their service has been far from essential.
“Everything that corporate said that makes us essential we have been either completely sold out of for more than two weeks or we have been getting like maybe one or two of these items on the truck and selling out of those within 15 minutes,” one worker in Michigan said. Another worker, who didn’t want to be named for fear of being fired, complained that they’re faced with “50 plus customers a day and handling their stuff.”
“I’m risking my health, the health of my family, and customers [sic] health every day,” the employee told the news site.
Lauren Novak, a partner in the labor and employment practice at Chicago-based law firm Schiff Hardin, said she understands workers’ concerns, adding that the onus is on employers to take the necessary steps to protect their staff.
“There are certainly going to be instances where employees who are deemed essential will be concerned about going to work,” Novak told the Chicago Tribune in March. “Employers will need to be flexible but also be very clear that they have to show up. It is going to be very difficult for employers in essential industries to strike that balance.”
Other industry workers deemed essential during the coronavirus include chemical workers, water and wastewater employees, communications professionals such as the news media and call center operators, and defense industrial base workers.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Who decides jobs are ‘essential’ in pandemic? Some workers upset by vague definitions."