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Sally Kohn: Businesses Chose To Layoff Employees, Wrong To Say ‘Forced’

   DailyWire.com
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 21: Political commentator Sally Kohn speask during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images

Even though the government ordered businesses to shut down for public health purposes, sending an economic shockwave across America, former Fox News contributor and left-wing political pundit Sally Kohn says it’s false to say businesses were “forced” to layoff employees.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Kohn, who regularly appears on CNN, said that while she acknowledges CEOs have been put in a difficult position, she ultimately felt that they have been falsely portrayed as victims.

“I’m really tired of reading how business owners are ‘forced’ to layoff workers,” she tweeted. “No one made them do that. They *chose* to do that. Not saying it isn’t a hard choice, during a hard time, but to say they were *forced* obscures their agency AND casts owners/CEOs as the victims.”

Naturally, Kohn’s tweet prompted swift backlash, with people noting that businesses have no money to pay people, which would mean they were forced to lay people off due to economic circumstances.

“A business literally not having the money to pay their employees is not a choice,” tweeted political commentator Lauren Chen. “You could say ‘It’s still a choice to lay them off, even if they can’t pay them.’ But then that would force employees to quit, potentially making them ineligible for certain unemployment benefits. I’m guessing you’ve never had to deal with payroll, accounting, or unemployment policy if you really don’t understand why you’re getting a ratio right now.”

“I was literally forced, literally, by the cold hard fact that I now don’t have a business income stream to pay all my people. Its called math,” responded one user.

“Companies do not want to lay off workers,” responded another user. “It has been almost impossible lately to find dedicated and drug-free help. Then they need trained. All of that costs money. No one is laying off people right now if they can afford to keep them on.”

“I am not a business owner, but if the business can’t pay employees right now because there are no customers, doesn’t letting them go allow them to file for unemployment? It seems like local business owners here have been pretty distraught about letting go of their staff,” responded another.

After this ratio went on for hours, Sally Kohn later responded to her critics, accusing them of lacking nuance and that it enables CEOs to exploit workers in other ways.

“Grasp the nuance of what I’m saying. I am NOT saying that it’s not a hard, sometimes impossible decision. But it’s still a DECISION. A CHOICE,” she tweeted. “Think about the meaning/implications of the word forced. No one is literally being forced to layoff workers.”

“AND that attitude in general, that business owners/CEOs take certain steps because they HAVE TO as opposed to because they CHOOSE TO, helps mask exploitation of workers in general in a million other ways — ‘have no choice’ but to pay low wages, no benefits, etc.” she concluded.

As reported by The Daily Wire’s Tim Pearce, approximately 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment in the past week, even higher than what economists predicted.

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