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One question that employers have been asking since the onset of the pandemic is whether they could be sued by employees who get sick as a result of being exposed to an infected coworker.

We have discussed how employers are obligated to record COVID-19 cases that they have determined are work-related and are confirmed COVID-19 cases, but what happens when an employee who has contracted COVID-19 has to go to a hospital or dies?

As employers re-open workplaces, the use of rapid COVID-19 testing has proliferated. But if an employer learns of a positive result, is it required to report that result on its workplace injury logs?

California Governor Gavin Newson recently signed two new laws related to COVID-19, including a workers’ compensation law governing workplace “outbreaks” of COVID-19, and an exposure notice law that is triggered whenever employers discover that a potentially infectious individual has entered the workplace.

Virginia, as one of 22 states with a federally approved Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) state plan (a workplace safety and health program operated by the individual state which is approved and monitored by OSHA for effectiveness), has taken the first step in a possible new state response trend by adopting a new emergency workplace safety standard that goes into effect today.

On July 8, 2020, OSHA issued guidance specific to the oil and gas industry for mitigating occupational exposure risks to COVID-19.

Suppose a union asks their bargaining unit’s employer for a list of names of all employees who have been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19: Must the employer provide the requested medical information?

Typically, an employees’ exclusive remedy for work-related injuries is through their state’s workers’ compensation system. As an example, suppose an employee suffers a work-related injury as a result of her employer’s negligence.

In its COVID-19 Q&A guidance, the EEOC has concluded that, while an employer may require reliable virus testing as part of its workplace screening procedures, COVID-19 antibody tests are not similarly permissible, at least for the time being.

We have all seen the data: Eighty percent of the people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States have been 65 or older.

Some states have issued orders requiring employers to provide cloth face coverings to employees as a condition for reopening.

As employers ask employees who have been furloughed or who have been teleworking to return to the office, they may encounter some resistance from some workers who don’t want to come back.