Healthy Workplaces, Reduced Staffs, Informed Customers

By Phillip M. Perry

Businesses face daunting operational challenges as the rapid spread of COVID-19 causes employees to call in sick and customer counts to dwindle. Managers can reduce workplace disruptions with measures such as revisiting sick leave policies and allowing some employees to work from home. Whatever the details of an organization’s response program, though, it must begin with the maintenance of a virus-free environment.

“An employer’s general duty is to maintain the health and safety of the workplace,” says Joseph Deng, an employment law partner at Baker & McKenzie in Los Angeles (bakermckenzie.com). “A business must be free of hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. In light of the virus, employers should pay close attention to what the national, state and local authorities are advising.”