Ruling Bars Suit After COVID Death, Highlights Worker Safety Concerns

A recent federal court ruling holding that a migrant farmworker’s death from COVID-19 fell within the scope of workers' compensation law is part of a growing body of rulings that bar liability lawsuits related to the pandemic against employers. The decision also highlights safety issues related to the housing of migrant workers during the pandemic. According to the ruling in Garcia Rodriguez v. Blaine Larsen Farms Inc., heard in the federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Marco Galvan, a temporary farmworker on an H-2A immigration visa, entered an employment...