In light of this vote by the Nats, I thought I'd revisit something I wrote yesterday that didn't get much traction. It's about how employees can stop working/refuse to work under abnormally dangerous conditions. It's a standard under the National Labor Relations Act - /1 https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1288142815696957441

& more frequently occurs in situations in transportation/delivery services (employees who drive trucks putting out fumes or with bad tires, etc.) or factory or mine settings (leaks of chemicals, etc.)
Employees can walk off the job if there are "abnormally dangerous conditions."

To prove it, there must be a good faith belief in the danger, it has to be the cause of the work stoppage, there must be objective evidence, and the danger must pose an immediate threat of harm to employee health or safety. 3/

No body with jurisdiction has ruled whether COVID-19 meets the standard as an abnormally dangerous activity. Whether it's a new danger or a "normally" existing one is considered.

OSHA plays a role too, but OSHA isn't doing inspections presently. 4/

OSHA also hasn't issued a temporary standard on workplace airborne communicable diseases.

If employees place themselves in a situation normally, but then desire to stop, it doesn't qualify as abnormal, so it is not protected concerted activity and they can be disciplined. 5/

For example - normally hazardous work such as working in a mine has fewer abnormal circumstances than working in an office. Also, if you work in a situation with leaking fuel for a week and then walk off the job without a change in circumstances, it's not generally considered 6/

protected.

The players have been sharing a clubhouse, traveling, etc. Is playing against a team on which all players should be presumed positive sufficient? I would say yes. Is playing in a hotspot? Probably not. Although, the Commissioner can cancel or move games out of 7/

states with higher transmission and positive rates in accordance with the March Agreement. I'm not sure why MLB would play in FL at all right now. And, as I've said in other tweets, either the Marlins should be using their taxi squad or should be shut down entirely. All 30-man 8/

players, coaches, and traveling staff have to be presumed positive for 14 days. They should be self-quarantining. If the taxi squad can't replace them, the Marlins need to be shut down completely. /end

I should never say /end. There's always more once I think about it and get some questions.

If it is protected under the NLRA (as an abnormally dangerous condition), then the employer cannot discipline or retaliate against players for engaging in protected concerted activity. /x

There would be a lack of just cause.

If it is not protected concerted activity, there still remains a problem for management. Employees should be treated similarly. If all 30 Nationals are not given the same discipline, then management would have problems in arbitration.

And, who would discipline them. The Nats? No, they want their players to play, but are likely happy they don't want to expose themselves. It would be the league. Which would lead to conflicts with the Nats team ownership and still require similarly situated players to be treated

similarly. Okay, all 30 Nats are now suspended for 6 games (forfeits?). Talk about affecting competitive balance during this shortened season.

Scherzer is on the MLBPA's governing body and has been a leading voice. Turner is team rep. Doolittle is also a leader on COVID. They

definitely coordinated this with the Union. They know they have cover and will be protected legally.

This was very well played and protects all teams (and I mean teams of players/employees not the corporate team/log) for future concerted activity.