Are Employers Liable for Workplace COVID Exposures?
Host: James Franklin, Chief Customer Officer, SpaceIQ
Guest: John Hutchins, Partner, BakerHostetler Law
Because COVID-19 is new there is no case law with regards to the virus that shows explicit employer liability if an employee becomes ill at the office. There is the argument that it is the same as getting the flu from a coworker. Would you sue your employer for that? Probably not. However, COVID-19 is not the flu, and employees expect their companies to do everything possible to protect them from this deadly disease with proactive facility planning.
John Hutchins of BakerHostetler Law shares how company owners making and executing back-to-work initiatives face an important question: If an employee returns to work, and contracts COVID-19 in their workplace, is the employer legally liable? The short answer is…it depends. The long answer is much more complicated.
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