Server's Corner

How Employers Can Protect Themselves Against COVID-19 Related Lawsuits

Ever since COVID-19 became a regular part of our daily vocabulary, governments, businesses, and families have been ever adapting to meet CDC guidelines on the subject. Because Coronavirus is so novel, our understanding of how it operates and how to best react to it has continually changed. So, it is understandable that many are still confused about how to reintroduce aspects of normal daily life and remain safe and healthy at the same time.

One large portion of our daily lives involves what we do for a living. Businesses have been hit hard during the pandemic and struggle to balance keeping patrons and employees safe while at the same time continuing to operate to stay afloat. But this has brought a new challenge to the table. How can employers protect themselves against lawsuits filed by COVID-19 positive employees? Employees that claim that they have contracted the virus because of their workplace.

In short, your best line of defense is to make sure that no arguments pertaining to negligence can be made. Afterall, it is quite difficult to pinpoint exactly where an individual contacted the virus. Especially when taking asymptomatic carriers into consideration.

How can you make a sound claim against negligence? By doing your due diligence to comply with and implement CDC recommended guidelines for the workplace. Things like:

• Installing physical barriers to encourage social distancing
• Requiring all to wear PPE and providing it for those that do not have any
• Staggering shifts to minimize the number of employees in the building at any given time or allowing for remote work if possible
• Requiring employees to wash their hands regularly

In addition, in the case of an employee that develops COVID-19 like symptoms or has been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19, it is important that you:

• Send them home immediately
• Encourage them to seek out medical guidance
• Allow them to remain away from the office or building until they meet the CDC’s criteria to discontinue home isolation

Indeed, these are difficult times whether you are an employer or an employee. By providing the safest work environment that you can, however, you will be able to protect yourself from wrongful claims.

If you need legal assistance in the form of serving papers, document search, or more, give Roland Investigations a call. We are dedicated to providing timely, affordable, and professional service to all.

By Roland Investigations 1-18-2021