A 17-year-old employee of Sesame Place Bucks County was assaulted Aug. 9, 2020, by two adults from the Bronx, N.Y., for reminding them of the Pennsylvania order requiring face masks.

He ended up in the hospital for a week with a fractured jaw and dental injuries.

Earlier in August 2020, a Slatington man was charged with homicide in an incident involving mask wearing at Cigars International on Route 191 in Bethlehem Township.

Several weeks later, a 25-year-old Wawa worker in Philadelphia’s Juniata section was shot in the chest as he stepped between a security guard and a customer who were arguing about standing 6 feet apart.

These and other stories are what prompted Coplay resident and Pennsylvania state Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-133rd, to author legislation designed to better protect retail and hospitality workers being harmed in the line of duty.

“These front-line employees, especially those in the retail and hospitality industries, are the ones who are tasked with enforcing mask mandates and social distancing rules,” McNeill said. “They didn’t make these rules, and yet they are the ones who are constantly challenged, chastised and physically attacked. While we have a right to disagree with public policy, we don’t have a right to inflict harm on another simply because we disagree - no one should be threatened or harmed for simply enforcing a public health directive.”

The legislation, penned in September 2020, would change the charge for attacking a retail or hospitality worker who is enforcing a public health directive from simple assault to aggravated assault, which is usually a felony.

“This legislation is about doing more to protect our front-line workers who have put their health and safety at risk every day for more than a year,” McNeill said. “It’s time to step up as a legislature to stop the abuse and protect those who have helped us all throughout this pandemic.”

Still in the infant stages, the proposal has gained nine co-sponsors to date.