U.S. workers who refuse to return to their jobs because they are worried about catching the coronavirus should not count on getting unemployment benefits, state officials and labor law experts say.
FILE PHOTO: An ambulance is seen in the foreground of the Atlanta skyline days before the phased reopening of businesses and restaurants from coronavirus disease restrictions in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
South Carolina allowed retailers to open on Monday, and Texas and Tennessee have said they will ease some restrictions in coming weeks. None of these states currently meet the White House guidelines for reopening only following two weeks of declines in the number of positive tests for the disease. State unemployment laws generally do not allow workers to collect jobless benefits if they refuse work available to them, said Thomas Smith, an assistant finance professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. That could force workers in Georgia back to their jobs at a time when it is not clear whether the risk of infection has abated, he said.
“I feel embarrassed and afraid to be in Georgia right now,” Yee said. Public libraries in her county remain closed for now. “I think that one of the big drivers of this decision by Kemp is to get people off unemployment rolls and having the private sector keeping these people afloat,” said Georgia employment lawyer James Radford.
“If an employee is concerned about returning to work due to exposure to COVID-19, we are encouraging employees to communicate with their employers on plans to safely return to work,” he said in a statement.
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