Coronavirus: Leadership and Recovery: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

 

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WHAT WILL U.S. LABOR PROTECTIONS LOOK LIKE AFTER CORONAVIRUS?

by Megan Tobias Neely

As I was writing the draft of this article, I was checking my symptoms and awaiting the results of a test I underwent for Covid-19. This virus has upended my life, as it has for every last one of us, no matter where we fall on the socioeconomic scale.

But the consequences fall more heavily on those at the bottom end of the wage distribution. That includes those risking their health as they sell us groceries, check our vitals, and sanitize our hospitals. Easily lost amid the chaos, however, is how this crisis may be an opportunity to improve employee protections—and not temporarily but permanently.

During bull markets, employers and policy makers often ...