Publix Supermarket Chain Accused of Causing Fla. Employee's COVID-19 Death

MIAMI — The family of a deli counter worker who died from complications related to the COVID-19 virus has sued his employer, Publix Super Markets Inc., accusing it of failing to protect its employees from contracting the highly contagious disease.

In a Nov. 23 complaint filed in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the family of Gerardo Gutierrez says that in the early days of the pandemic, the supermarket chain would not allow employees to wear gloves or masks in its Florida stores, even though the virus was rapidly spreading throughout the state, because it would “scare off the customers.”

“During the …