Earlier this year, Public Health Law Watch, in collaboration with members of the George Consortium and other partner organizations, hosted a series of legal briefings related to COVID-19 and legal and policy issues associated with the global pandemic. Experts and scholars joined us for bi-weekly livestreamed discussions on these issues. We invite you to read the summaries of selected episodes below! And, enjoy relistening to the series (linked below and archived on our #COVIDLawBriefing webpage).
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5/14/20: Workplace Safety
Mod: Wendy Parmet
Speaker: Emily Spieler
In this #CovidLawBriefing Professor Parmet moderates a discussion with Professor Spieler on workplace safety in the era of COVID-19. While this discussion has largely focused on safety of essential workers, as different parts of the country have opened up, this has become an even larger conversation. A key concern is the workplace becoming a conduit for spreading diseases quickly into communities. Then the conversation turned to the specificities for making the workplace safe. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) generally provides the guide to workplace safety. Although they have protections for respiratory illness, currently, OSHA does not have any guidelines in place specifically for a pandemic. OSHA claimed they would use the General Duty Clause which covers a wide range of workplace safety issues to protect the frontline responders, however, they have not yet issued any citations for violations of this clause. As with many other issues, there is a sharp divide amongst states in terms of safety guidelines. States such as California or Oregon already have the infrastructure to combat workplace safety violations. Without a clear plan from Washington, many states have taken steps to “keep the spread of the disease down.” Another issue is that OSHA is “not a crisis administration.” They have taken a long time to respond throughout this crisis to a variety of issues, specifically whistleblower complaints. This has left people nervous to raise concerns about workplace safety with fear of retaliation from their employer. The conversation ended with a discussion of who would be able to get workers compensation, with Professor Spieler suggesting that it would likely only be for healthcare workers.
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Public Health Law Watch’s COVID Law Briefings are co-sponsored by the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law, the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law, the Network for Public Health Law, and the APHA Law Section.