Bloomberg Law Quotes Robert Lian on Employer Requirements for Tracking Coronavirus

Robert Lian, head of Akin Gump’s labor and employment practice, has been quoted in the Bloomberg Law article “Employers Must Track Coronavirus Infections in the Workplace,” which addresses the steps employers must take when it comes to deciding if a real or suspected coronavirus case should be recorded in an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) log as a work-related illness.

The article reports that OSHA requires hundreds of thousands of employers with 10 more workers to keep a log of every workplace injury or illness that requires medical treatment beyond first aid or if it keeps a worker away from work for at least one day. Failure to do so could lead to possible fines.

For cases of employees missing work due to a cold or the flu, Lian said OSHA does not require the employer to track those illnesses because it is impossible to determine where or when the worker contracted the virus. OSHA, however, is requiring employers to track cases of COVID-19.

Lian added that for workers who decide not come to work because they have sniffles or are coughing, that by itself will not require employers to list the cases—that’s a longtime practice and covered by OSHA’s flu and cold exemption.

If a test later shows a worker who stayed home had COVID-19, though, he said the employer would need to consider if the infection was work-related and recordable.