Workers have a right to be free from ‘recognized hazards’ that could cause death or serious injury in their workplace, according to federal law.
Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images“Somebody at my workplace tested positive for Covid-19. What are my employer’s legal obligations? What do they have to disclose to the rest of us employees and in what time frame?”
The bottom line
Your employer should immediately inform co-workers who have been exposed (federal and state agencies offer guidance on exposure criteria), while protecting the confidentiality of the affected employee, so colleagues can quarantine for the recommended 14 days, employment lawyers say. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made these recommendations clear, they are guidelines, not laws. Employers also have some obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970’s “general duty” clause, as well as under some state regulations.
The details
Workers have a right to be free from “recognized hazards” that could cause death or serious injury, according to the “general duty” clause enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA may find that employers who didn’t inform employees immediately—and therefore didn’t tell them to quarantine—were violating their obligations, which could subject employers to fines or other enforcement actions. Keep in mind that OSHA is a small agency, and it has rarely flexed its enforcement muscles during the pandemic. Through July 9, it has received 6,442 Covid-19-related complaints and issued only one citation, an agency spokesperson said.
While workers can try to sue their company for negligence if they test positive for Covid-19 after being exposed by a co-worker, the employer will likely argue that the claim is covered, if at all, under the workers’ compensation system, says Jennifer Merrigan Fay, a Boston-based employment lawyer. Precedents haven’t yet been set, so it isn’t clear how courts will interpret OSHA and other standards in light of a highly contagious virus.
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Some state laws require that employers report positive Covid-19 cases quickly to public-health authorities so that contact tracing with colleagues and others can take place. Depending on location, the employer here may have violated a state law or executive order if it didn’t inform the appropriate authorities, says Ms. Fay. New York and Massachusetts, for example, have reporting requirements.
Employers must balance confidentiality laws, which are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with the rights of workers to be in a safe workplace, which is enforced by OSHA. Employers should not disclose the name or identifying details of the person who tested positive, says Connecticut-based attorney Mark Carey, even if workers can figure out the person’s identity themselves. “The immediacy of communication is paramount, but so is confidentiality,” he says.
When employers don’t inform workers of their exposure, they are likely afraid of the risk to operations, Mr. Carey says. They may also be concerned about having to pay wages to workers in quarantine. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires that employers with fewer than 500 workers cover two weeks of paid sick leave to those who have to quarantine. (Larger employers are subject to the longstanding Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides workers with unpaid leave.) But these aren’t reasons to delay or avoid disclosing important information to workers, Ms. Fay and Mr. Carey say.
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