Should Businesses Be Protected from Coronavirus Lawsuits?

covid 19 lawsuit against businessesBy: Gregory Gifford, Esquire

There is much debate regarding the pandemic of lawsuits that could come out of reopening our economy. What should businesses do to protect themselves? Although there is a push to raise the bar to prevent a tsunami of lawsuits, many believe that raising the bar will allow employers to relax the protections for their employees. Some believe that there is an easy compromise. Ordinary negligence would not be enough to bring a lawsuit regarding Coronavirus but that the standard should be increased to reckless behavior by an employer. In other words, should an employer be sued if they run out of cleaning products and did not replace them until the next day? Or should the standard be that an employer, who does not provide any safety protocol for their employees be the targets of any future lawsuits? My suggestion is that all employers should closely look at the guidelines prepared by their local government, as well as State and Federal Guidelines. No employer can give a 100% guarantee of protection to their employees, but as long as they follow all of the guidelines, they should be able to avoid liability. Stay tuned to see if any State or Federal Laws modify the playing field to protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits.

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