This State Just Made Assaulting Retail Workers Over Mask Enforcement A Felony

While support for wearing facial coverings has broadly skewed positively in the U.S., some anti-mask crusaders have become violent when forced to comply with the rules.

A cashier works behind a plexiglass shield at a Super H Mart grocery store in Niles, Ill., Thursday, March 26, 2020. | AP Images
A cashier works behind a plexiglass shield at a Super H Mart grocery store in Niles, Ill., Thursday, March 26, 2020. | AP Images

Anyone who assaults or physically threatens a retail employee who enforces face mask policies could be charged with a felony in Illinois. 

Under a new rule that Gov. JB Pritzker (D) signed into law last week, assaulting employees who enforce the state’s public health guidelines can result in an aggravated battery charge. The law took effect on Friday.

Pritzker’s office said in a release that the law “sends the message that it's vitally important for workers to be both respected and protected while serving on the front lines.’” The state has required people to wear masks in public since May.

People charged with aggravated battery in Illinois can be fined up to $25,000 and face prison time, according to state law. Business Insider reported that “shoppers don't have to become physically violent to be charged with aggravated battery against a retail worker under [existing] Illinois law.”

Instead, anyone who allegedly commits battery — which in Illinois includes making physical contact in an “insulting or provoking nature” — against a retail employee over a face mask can see a charge upgraded to a felony. A simple battery charge, conversely, is classified as a misdemeanor, which can result in a sentence of up to one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine. 

The recent legislation falls under the Healthy Workplace Act, which also creates a warning system for businesses that break public health guidelines. Businesses can ultimately face an up to $2,500 fine for refusing to comply. 

Throughout the pandemic, altercations over mask policies have broken out in stores, and in some extreme cases, led to injury or death. 

In May, Calvin Munerlyn, a security guard at Family Dollar in Michigan, was fatally shot while working after he got into a verbal altercation with a woman who was not wearing a mask in the store. The woman left the store and returned with two other men, one of whom allegedly shot Munerlyn, according to a police report.  In July, a man was fired from his insurance job after he appeared in a viral video shouting “I feel threatened!” when asked to wear a face mask at a Costco in Florida.

Similar incidents across the U.S. in states including California and Texas have been captured on video and widely shared online.
 

While mask wearing was portrayed as politically divisive earlier in the pandemic, more recent polls have shown that the majority of Americans increasingly support wearing facial coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.