If there was any doubt about the society Republicans intend to create out of the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the reopening of Ohio should dispel those doubts. From The Guardian:
Fear of catching Covid-19 will now cost you more than sleep in Ohio. The Ohio state government has asked employers to report anyone who refuses to return to work because they are concerned about the coronavirus pandemic. Reported workers may be ineligible for unemployment benefits.
As Ohio reopens formerly “nonessential” businesses Friday—at the urging of Republican state legislators, and with approval of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine—employees are required to return to work despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The state has implemented a measure designed to coerce compliance by those Ohioans who may fear their employers do not have adequate “social distancing” measures in place.
That measure reframes fear of the virus as fraud.
Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services has now asked employers “to report employees who quit or refuse work when it is available due to Covid-19”. The information collected on the “Covid-19 Employee Fraud” form can then be used to evaluate potential unemployment benefits claims from people who are refusing “suitable work,” and are thus ineligible for benefits.
This, the functional equivalent of forcing workers to comply at the barrel of a gun, is occurring in an environment where the majority of the American public is unwilling to risk their lives and those of their families, all so corporate employers can begin to amass profits once again.
Keep in mind that while the Buckeye State is focused on “Employee Fraud,” there is no functioning method of enforcement in place that will ensure any given employer is actually complying with the safest possible rules of “social distancing.” There is no modern-day Inspector Javert, traveling to the thousands of businesses now permitted to reopen, checking for a safe, or even a quasi-safe work environment, in accordance with CDC or state guidelines. As the Guardian notes, compliance will be maintained by “local health departments,” who are unlikely to possess the nearly-unlimited resources and personnel necessary to maintain such ongoing, thorough vigilance over employers.
DeWine brushed that lack of resources off. “With any decision, there’s a risk,” DeWine conceded during the reopening plan announcement. “What we did today is a risk. Doing nothing is a risk.”
There isn’t much recourse for employees who witness acts of non-compliance with such “protocols.” The rule now, being enforced with the imprimatur of the state government itself, is that Ohioans either report to work or they’ll be considered to have voluntarily quit their job, losing unemployment benefits as well as health insurance in the process. For those who refuse to work, Ohio law requires the would-be workers to establish “good cause” before their unemployment benefits will be permitted to continue. This places the onus of proving workplace safety (or a lack of it) directly onto the employee who, of course, is in a far more precarious bargaining position than the employer—or the state.
There is no doubt that this Orwellian formulation is the direct product of Republican policy: namely, of forced and premature reopening of the economy to benefit businesses at any cost, despite the unprecedented dangers to the workers who make that business run. It is also emblematic of Republican ideology and the continued unwillingness to provide affected workers sufficient federal relief to sustain them through the pandemic, at least until adequate safety measures can be put into place and enforced. Ohio’s Republican politicians have acknowledged as much.
“We are concerned about unemployment serving as a disincentive for individuals who have been laid off to get back to work when the economy reopens,” said a spokesperson for US senator Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio.
By design, the scheme is plainly intended to force work out of poorer Ohioans; those classified as low-level support staff, or clerical employees, who have neither the resources to appeal termination of their benefits, nor the work from home option typically enjoyed by more highly-compensated employees enjoying a more “professional” status. This scheme is, in effect, creating an environment where less-compensated workers are the guinea pigs first placed in the potentially infectious workplace, while white-collar employees issue them directives from the safety of their suburban homes.
Aida Chevez, writing for The Intercept, elaborates on the preferred mechanism of state enforcement: a confidential form for employers to report anyone who objects to being forced to work in a potentially deadly environment.
There is now a form on the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services website for employers to confidentially report employees “who quit or refuse work when it is available due to COVID-19,” flagging them for the state’s Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations. The form asks employers for basic contact information; whether their business was deemed essential during the pandemic; for details on whether the employee quit or refused work, including the date and an explanation; and whether they maintain “the safety standards that are required by the Ohio Governor’s Office.”
Over a million Ohioans have filed for unemployment benefits in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic. As the Guardian points out, this massive surge has resulted in a threat to the state’s unemployment fund, suggesting the true motivation behind this measure. A similar rationale for forcing employees to return to work for businesses that have reopened despite the unabated rise in COVID-19 infections has been attributed to Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp.
Welcome to end-stage capitalism.