COVID-19 Liability Protection Laws Not Needed, Comp Advocates Say

State legislatures considering laws that would give employers immunity from COVID-19 lawsuits brought by workers are overlooking the fact that such protection already exists, said participants in a Cornell University seminar held Wednesday. That protection is called the workers' compensation system, said Joe Canovas, special counsel to the New York AFL-CIO. “I would point out that the purpose of workers' comp is to protect employers from ruinous liability lawsuits,” he said in the webinar, hosted by Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. As the pande...