Grocery workers risked death and many lost their lives to keep the country fed during the early days of the pandemic, raising questions about retail labor conditions and the responsibility of corporations in worker deaths from the coronavirus. For families who lost loved ones, there is little recourse to seek monetary damages under current labor laws.

“I’m not going to say Walmart killed my brother,” said a family member of a grocery store worker who died from Covid-19. “But did they help him? No, not at all.”