The Disposable “Essential” Workers of COVID-19

COVID-19 reshaped almost every aspect of economic activity and working life in the United States. It also amplified existing racial, gender, and economic disparities, significantly impacting working people. Specifically, low-wage essential workers of color experienced higher levels of exposure, long-term health complications, and COVID-19-related deaths than other workers. Thus, the episodic allocation of pandemic health risks tracks and illustrates inequalities that require more extensive solutions in the workplace.

     This Article demonstrates how race, gender, and citizenship shape the employment and life outcomes of essential workers who sustained the economy throughout the pandemic. Building on a health justice framework, it fills a gap in legal scholarship by identifying six employment-related factors compounding systemic inequalities. Profiling COVID-19-related lawsuits involving low-wage workers, it also analyzes the effectiveness of available legal remedies.

     Amid immense human loss, there are clear lessons in changing labor and employment structures to protect, rather than dispose of, essential workers from magnifying inequalities. Thus, this Article proposes adopting employment equity principles to address intersectional disparities in the workplace. Using the expertise of on-the-ground advocacy organizations, it also examines and critiques several administrative, legislative, and regulatory interventions. In light of impending health and climate change pandemics, this Article provides actionable steps to protect the most vulnerable among us.