Name: Companies are pushing for new protections from coronavirus lawsuits, and Senate Republicans agree. Here's everything we know about what's in the works.
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Companies are pushing for new protections from coronavirus lawsuits, and Senate Republicans agree. Here's everything we know about what's in the works.

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An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem now&nbsp;Senate Republicans are crafting a bill to broaden protections for employers worried about getting sued by workers and customers exposed to the coronavirus.&nbsp;The protections would extend to a slew of employers: hospitals, schools, colleges, nonprofits, businesses large and small, and even government, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They would be intended to shield employers who had to keep operating during the pandemic as well as those reopening.The bill will be introduced in a few weeks, Sen. John Cornyn, who is working on it with McConnell, told Business Insider on Tuesday. The timeline was longer than he had initially expected it would be, he said.&nbsp;"It's looking now more like this is a July exercise," Cornyn said. "It wasn't as much of a foot race as I thought it was going to be initially."&nbsp;Republican leaders have said economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic won't be possible without new liability protections.&nbsp;"As we pivot toward re-opening, the Senate is also working on significant COVID-related legal protections, so our nation's schools, healthcare workers, and employers are not swamped with frivolous lawsuits and taxpayer dollars do not just stimulate the pockets of trial lawyers," McConnell said from the Senate floor Tuesday.&nbsp;Employers have lobbied Congress for the new protections, warning that they will otherwise face unfair lawsuits from people who say they got the virus, or were exposed to it, at their place of business. Some states have already implemented such protections.&nbsp;The details of the bill will help signal what Republicans are prioritizing for a larger coronavirus relief bill. While Republicans have called for a pause in bailout legislation to see how the other four bills they passed play out, they have rallied around liability reforms, as has the White House. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow has called the protections "a must."&nbsp;&nbsp;Meanwhile, in the House, Democrats on May 15 passed a . The bill, called the , does not include liability protections, which Democratic leaders have said could be harmful to workers and customers."We're concerned it will end up being a takeaway rather than something that's positive, so we're going to have to wait and see," said Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. "If it's a takeaway it can't happen, particularly if we're in the middle of a pandemic. We don't want to do that."&nbsp;Despite the current divide, it's possible Republicans and Democrats will reach an agreement in July for another relief effort. Democrats have signaled that is their priority, and McConnell said on the Senate floor in May that the liability protections were a "hard red line in any future legislation."&nbsp;"I think they realize the inevitability of it," Cornyn said of Democrats. "We'll look forward to working with them and getting it done."&nbsp;Here is what proponents and Republicans are envisioning for the bill:&nbsp; and lobbies want new protections from Congress as they put on hold during the pandemic. They're also concerned that the work they did during the pandemic — a time during which the virus and how to treat it was still being understood — would open them up to lawsuits.The protections would extend not only to healthcare employers but to their staff, GOP lawmakers have signaled,&nbsp;"Imagine you are a nurse who is being sued by the family of a patient who tragically passed away at your hospital," Cornyn said May 11 on the Senate floor. "Even though you acted in good faith and you took every precaution to save the life of the patient, you could get pulled into a nightmarish legal fight over a case that ends up having no merit in the first place."&nbsp;&nbsp;McConnell, too, pledged to raise the liability threshold for coronavirus-related malpractice lawsuits."This will give our doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers a lot more security as they clock in every day and risk themselves to care for strangers," he said May 12 from the Senate floor.&nbsp;Employers are worried that customers or workers who get COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, would blame them for being the source of infection. Kevin Smartt, chief executive officer and president of Kwik Chek Food Stores Inc., said during at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing May 12 that his company was working to operate safely but noted the virus was spreading widely.&nbsp;Republicans want to raise the legal bar to prove a business is at fault.&nbsp;"Our legislation is going to create a legal safe harbor for businesses, nonprofits, governments, workers, and schools who are following public health guidelines to the best of their ability," McConnell vowed May 12.&nbsp;Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, which is , told Business Insider that employers should be able to feel comfortable operating under government instructions."If they are reopening it means that the shutdown orders are over and there is guidance," Bradley said. "If they are following it they shouldn't be subject to lawsuits just because they are following instructions."&nbsp;Companies have changed up their businesses to respond to the pandemic. For example, distillers have and other manufacturers had to speed up the development of protective equipment following shortages.&nbsp;These manufacturers are worried about facing lawsuits if cleaning, testing, or treatment products don't work as well as expected, even if they followed the guidance they were supposed to.The Families First Coronavirus Response Act Trump signed into law in March gave mask manufacturers and distributors immunity from liability. McConnell said he hoped the forthcoming bill would "find ways to expand existing protections for the manufacturers of therapeutics, diagnostics, and potential vaccines."Democratic congressional leaders have said they worry that new protections would mean workers exposed to the virus because of unsafe practices wouldn't have a way to hold employers accountable.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that instead Democrats supported creating mandatory provisions under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, which enforces federal workplace standards.&nbsp;OSHA released to use during the coronavirus pandemic, but they're not mandatory and there isn't an enforcement mechanism.&nbsp;Speaking from the Senate floor May 18, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused McConnell of "slowly preparing legislation to give legal immunity to big corporations that put workers in dangerous situations."&nbsp;McConnell has pushed back, saying employers who are "following public health guidelines to the best of their ability" shouldn't face undue penalties.&nbsp;"We are not talking about immunity from lawsuits," he said. "There will be accountability for actual gross negligence and intentional misconduct."Republicans say that businesses would still have to adhere to government standards to show that they did their best to try to protect workers and customers. Some examples of regulations include a requirement to wear masks, providing protective equipment, providing hand sanitizer, conducting tests, setting up appointments with customers so they don't have to wait in a room with others who might be infected, doing more work over the phone, or obligating people maintain a distance from each other of six feet or more.&nbsp;Cornyn said that, for instance, a nursing home employer that told workers who reported they had&nbsp; COVID-19 to still go back to work would not be protected.&nbsp;"Obviously we don't want to immunize that kind of outrageous conduct," he said.&nbsp;Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, told Business Insider that the bill "has got to be temporary."&nbsp;"Can't let bad actors off the hook," he said. "It's not a permanent ban on lawsuits."&nbsp;Witnesses who testified in support of new liability protections during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing stressed that they didn't need to be permanent. The US Chamber of Commerce has recommended tying the protections to the US national emergency declaration.&nbsp;"What we have suggested is that they need to be temporary and they need to sunset," Bradley said.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know.Subscribe to push notificationsAn icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.Keep readingIt indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.For you

An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem now&nbsp;Senate Republicans are crafting a bill to broaden protections for employers worried about getting sued by workers and customers exposed to the coronavirus.&nbsp;The protections would extend to a slew of employers: hospitals, schools, colleges, nonprofits, businesses large and small, and even government, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They would be intended to shield employers who had to keep operating during the pandemic as well as those reopening.The bill will be...

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Companies are pushing for new protections from coronavirus lawsuits, and Senate Republicans agree. Here's everything we know about what's in the works.

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