As more than 10,000 workers in meat-processing plants have fallen sick with the coronavirus and at least 30 have died, corporate food giants facing liability lawsuits are turning to a powerful ally: the White House.

On April 30, two days after President Donald Trump ordered meatpacking facilities to stay open amid the pandemic, a lawyer defending Smithfield Foods told a judge that the company expected federal regulators to come to its defense.

The countrys largest pork processor had been accused of failing to protect workers at its Milan, Missouri, plant. At a preliminary hearing in Kansas City, Missouri, Smithfield lawyer Alexandra Cunningham said the Department of Labor would provide support to employers and come in and talk about the companys compliance with federal standards.

Theyre not suggesting in any way that ... private litigants can go around the country and try to enforce their standards, she said, according to a court transcript. I feel pretty confident we could get a statement from [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration stating] thats not the case if the Court is inclined to interpret it that way.

The statement raised red flags for legal experts who interpreted it to mean the Department of Labor is more interested in coming up with ways to protect companies than to protect workers, said Adam Pulver, an attorney at the consumer watchdog Public Citizen.

The Department of Labor has a duty to the workers who are putting their health and safety at risk every day, Pulver, a former senior attorney at the Labor Department under President Barack Obama, told HuffPost this week. To the extent that the Department of Labor is collaborating with meatpacking plants, it should be open and transparent about all of those conversations.