Safety/Health

Are laws limiting covid-19 liability on the horizon in Congress, states?

07/21/2020

Republican leaders in Congress are saying that any new coronavirus aid or stimulus legislation must also include a provision that limits an organization’s liability if customers, vendors or employees contract covid-19 through their normal interactions with the business.

Which safety measures do employees really want?

07/21/2020

A Harris Poll of 2,000 U.S. workers says these are the top five safety measures (in order) they feel would be critical to help them feel safe in their workplace.

If family member is ‘high risk,’ must you accommodate?

07/16/2020

An employee [does not want to come into work/wants to work from home/wants a leave of absence] because he or she lives with someone who is at high risk for coronavirus complications. What do we do?

Employee tests positive? How to notify staff

07/16/2020

Millions of Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus, so odds are that one or more of your employees will test positive in the coming months. But there is a smart (and legal) way to communicate this news to your employees.

Prepare for ADA suits driven by health fears

07/09/2020

Simultaneous health and financial crises have given us all plenty to fear. Surely you are doing your best to prove to employees that your workplace is safe. Most will be assured. However, a small subset of workers may remain paralyzed by safety concerns.

Union pushes for national covid safety rules

07/09/2020

The AFL-CIO labor union is leaning hard on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a binding emergency workplace safety standard for dealing with covid-19.

Spring regulatory agenda addresses contractor, wellness issues

07/07/2020

The Trump administration’s Spring 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions—released late, on June 30—spells out what it hopes to accomplish between now and the end of the year.

Avoid 3 critical errors when reopening the office

06/30/2020

In a still-confusing time, you want to get people back to work, and keep them there. But Dan Kaplan,a partner at Foley & Lardner’s Madison, Wisconsin office and a leader on the firm’s Coronavirus Task Force, has some reminders for us of the organizational and legal issues we cannot look past.

OSHA issues guidance on face masks at work

06/26/2020

OSHA’s General Duty Clause requires employers to provide “equipment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards” that may cause serious harm or death.

Prepare for more suits claiming unsafe work

06/25/2020

Lawsuits over working conditions that promote injuries, contagion and illness are likely to skyrocket in the coming year.