Over the past year, COVID-19 has been a significant workplace hazard. Primarily in fields where essential workers must mix with the public and where workers are in close physical quarters, the virus has spread quickly and caused many illnesses and deaths.
However, OSHA regulations do not fully reflect the role of the workplace in spreading COVID infections. Faruqi & Faruqi LLP explores the legal issues behind reporting COVID infections and hospitalizations in the workplace.
Determining Whether a Case Is Work-Related
The major problem related to reporting COVID cases in the workplace is determining whether these cases can be proven to be work-related. Determining whether a case is work-related is governed by OSHA regulation 29 CFR § 1904.5.
As part of the basic requirement, an illness must be considered to be work-related if exposure in the work environment contributed to or caused the condition or whether it aggravated an existing condition.
The restrictions governing whether a COVID case can be considered to be work-related are tight for a reason. Symptoms of COVID can show up at any time between two and 14 days since the exposure. Therefore, it is very challenging to prove that an illness is work-related. Employers can use this loophole to protect themselves against litigation, though they should put their workers’ health and safety above such considerations.
Reporting Illnesses
To report COVID-related illnesses, OSHA-compliant workplaces must check whether the case meets the basic requirements defined in rule 29 CFR § 1904.7. Illnesses meet the general recording criteria if they result in death, restricted work, days away from work, transfer to another job, loss of consciousness, or medical treatment outside first aid. Cases must be considered reportable if they involve a significant illness or injury diagnosed by a licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in the criteria listed above.
Reporting Hospitalizations
On September 30, 2020, OSHA released guidance requiring employers to report inpatient hospitalizations due to COVID to the agency only if the worker contracted the virus at work within 24 hours of the hospitalization. Since the disease’s incubation period is between two and 14 days, this makes it extremely unlikely that most COVID hospitalizations could be reportable under OSHA laws. Severe cases of COVID generally take at least a week to develop.
This does reduce the reporting requirements on businesses, but it will result in the under-reporting of hospitalizations related to COVID in the workplace. Statistics could be distorted, and workers may lose out on the compensation they are entitled to.
Reporting Deaths
Fatalities related to at-work COVID exposure need to be reported to OSHA within 24 hours if the death occurred within 30 days of the exposure.
Notable Work-Related Outbreaks of COVID
COVID has become a serious problem in healthcare-related workplaces and in various types of businesses where employees work in close quarters. Correctional facilities, homeless shelters, meat and poultry processing workers, and manufacturing workers have all fallen victim to COVID at some point during the crisis.
Workplace Guidelines for Preventing Illness
Employers must follow guidelines to make their workplaces as safe as possible. All workers should be required to wear masks unless they experience a health issue that makes this impossible. In addition, any visitors or customers in the business should be required to wear a mask.
Quarantine periods after known exposure to the virus or after travel outside a person’s home region of the United States or abroad should be 14 days. Shortening quarantine may make it easier for workers to return to their jobs, but this method makes it hard for employers to prevent the disease’s spread in the workplace.
Understanding OSHA’s Regulations
Since the definition of work-related exposure is relatively straightforward, it is surprising that companies do not have to report COVID hospitalizations except in very narrow circumstances. This could put employees at a disadvantage when it comes to litigation filed against their employers in the case of illness or severe injury.
In addition to employee compensation, OSHA sanctions companies that have failed to protect their workers from COVID exposure. Since the beginning of the pandemic, over a hundred companies have been fined for violations relating to the coronavirus. Companies that were fined failed to implement written respiratory protection programs. They were unable to provide medical evaluations regarding the proper use of respirators and personal protective equipment. They were unable to report injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.
Faruqi Law encourages all workers exposed to COVID in the workplace to thoroughly research their options. OSHA guidelines currently favor the employer’s interests, but workers who have been exposed, become ill, or been hospitalized with COVID-19 should still have some recourse against their employers. Employees should be sure to take comprehensive notes and document every step of their process toward getting well, beginning with the time of their probable exposure and any treatments they received.
