Connecticut and Nevada followed with laws that took effect in July, just as the delta variant was triggering a resurgence of Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations. A similar proposal passed the state House in Minnesota but stalled in the Republican-majority state Senate.
A major question for “right to recall” laws is whether they will have staying power beyond the pandemic. Their supporters, including labor unions, have argued the pandemic created a special need for additional protections for workers. In Nevada, for example, Covid-19 led to tens of thousands of casino, hospitality, stadium, and travel-industry workers being out of work, some for a year or longer.
“We’ve seen that in times of economic crisis employers look to cut labor costs,” said Bethany Khan, spokeswoman for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226. The push to cut costs can lead to older, more experienced workers being terminated and replaced with younger, cheaper labor, she added.
The union advocated for the Nevada legislation, after successfully negotiating to extend recall rights to two years for the 60,000 workers covered by its union contracts, Khan said.
“We knew there were hundreds of thousands of workers who were nonunion and weren’t protected by those recall rights. That’s where the ‘right to return’ law came in,” she added.