Family of dead Publix worker files lawsuit alleging grocery chain stopped him from wearing a mask

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

By
Meryl Kornfield
November 24, 2020 at 7:28 p.m. CST

When Florida-based grocery chain Publix began requiring employees to wear masks in late April, it was too late for deli worker Gerardo Gutierrez.

By then, the 70-year-old father of four was already infected with the coronavirus and would die alone in a hospital eight days later. His family and friends said their goodbyes over Zoom.

In March, as the virus was spreading rapidly across the country, Gutierrez asked his employer whether he could wear a face covering at his South Beach store, but he was denied, alleges a lawsuit his daughter filed Monday in a Miami court on his behalf.

At least 131 grocery workers have died of covid-19, the disease the virus causes, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 900,000 grocery employees. The actual death toll is probably much higher because the group does not represent all chains, and firms do not always publicly share when workers succumb to the virus.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/24/publix-covid-death-lawsuit/

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Gerardo Gutierrez.

[Phoenix61]

1. I know they don't enforce wearing a mask

And employees are not allowed to ask customers to wear one. Employees are supposed to wear a mask but enforcement is spotty.

[elleng]

2. How BACKWARDS. ;-(

Quite the opposite here, southern MD, masks been required for months, and EVERYONE wears them. No problems with that (as far as I can see.)

[Liberty Belle]

3. About time. I hope they win a bundle. A slew of wrongful death suits may be what it takes

to get businesses to require masks of employees and customers in areas that does not mandate them.

How about suing Governors, too, in states where Governors ordered mayors not to impose mask mandates.

And maybe police departments that refused to enforce health rules in areas with mandates.

This nonsense has got to stop. Make the science-deniers pay for their stupid beliefs.

[cstanleytech]

14. If they get a sympathetic jury they might win but the problem is

getting it to not be thrown out on appeal.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Terribly sad.

And then there's this...


AOC Tweet

If you want to know why COVID relief is tied up in Congress, one key reason is that Republicans are demanding legal immunity for corporations so they can expose their workers to COVID without repercussions.

Dems don’t want you to die for a check. That’s what we’re fighting over.

Link to tweet

RIP Gerardo Gutierrez

[jaxexpat]

12. This fact has been at the core of the intransigence from the get-go.

Pretty shameful or pretty lazy how the "liberal media" fails to mention this though they rarely fail to mention the "yet no agreement in congress on aid bill" story line. Implying that McConnell's unexplained delay is merely ideological and thus so must be Pelosi's stubborn refusal. The corporate owned GOP is getting a pass on this and the public's no wiser. I somehow sense a pattern.

A few words here and there, pretty soon you got a speech.

[Hugin]

13. Yep.

The Murder Cult inaction in action. McConnell is almost single handedly responsible for this outrage.

This is what the hold-up in further COVID relief is all about and I'd sure like to see more wrongful death claims like this filed.

Where are all the attorneys?

[littlemissmartypants]

23. I don't understand this at all, I fail to see the relevance and don't see how it creates a remedy

given the circumstances. Are you sure you replied to the right post?

[cstanleytech]

25. Ya wrong thread. Was posting from my phone earlier.

[FM123]

19. Dems don't want you to die for a paycheck.

Repugs want to expose their folks to Covid, with no repercussions. This needs to be said every single day.

[DanieRains]

5. Immunity For Murdering Their Workers

Mitch has to go.

[quakerboy]

6. Well then Congress better get its act together ASAP

I mean, lets make a deal for the least possible stimulus that makes sure companies cant be held liable for anything quick like, right?

[Sherman A1]

7. Hope that they succeed

Essential workers need as much protection as they can get.

[NurseJackie]

8. The defense will argue that he got it elsewhere and nobody can prove he contracted it at work.

So sad.

I recall that Publix recently needed pressure before their employee health insurance would cover HIV meds that had previously been disqualified or omitted for some reason. They're not a very progressive of forward-thinking company.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. That Was The Defense Stance...

...in the coal miner & asbestos exposure suits. Didn't work then.
Admittedly, the proportion of those workers with severe respiratory system damage weakened the argument, but the counter claims were that they could have gotten those illnesses anywhere, that some were smokers, that family members had lung cancer or COPD & never worked there, etc.
That argument failed.
I hope it does here.

[cstanleytech]

20. Ya but with the virus so wide spread across the country it will probably be harder to get

a judge to agree that he contracted the virus at work.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Totally Agree

That's why I mentioned the disproportion of cases in those industries.
It was far harder to deny the link.

[beachbumbob]

9. these are the lawsuits that McConnell and GOP want to block with a liability shield law of all

things COVID

[Blues Heron]

10. Publix executives - so evil

What is it about the casual evil of the American right wing executive?

[Calista241]

16. I've been shopping at Publix for years.

Everyone wears a mask, and I've seen people asked to leave for not wearing one. I even saw an employee asked to leave for forgetting her mask at home. So some of the comments in this thread contradict my experience.

[cstanleytech]

21. That is now but he contracted the virus before they allowed the employees to wear them.

That aside it will difficult for them to win because they will have to prove that he contracted it at work and not somewhere else and seeing as the virus is worldwide and out of control in the US it will be huge hurdle for them to overcome.

[FakeNoose]

24. There will be Covid-related lawsuits all over the place

I'm sure the lawyers are salivating already. The insurance liability costs will probably put everyone out of business. That's what happens when we have so many people behaving so irresponsibly.

[MustLoveBeagles]

26. K&R