08/05/2020

COVID-19 Exposure Claims Against Businesses

Implement plans now to protect your organization down the road

What happens if one of your employees, or a non-employee who visits your business, contracts COVID-19 and claims that your business caused them to become ill? Typically, the Ohio Workers’ Compensation program should be the exclusive remedy for your employees. However, there are exceptions to workers’ compensation’s exclusivity that may provide an opening to COVID-19 negligence claims against a business. Additionally, businesses should be aware of visitors to their workplaces as claims may arise from an invitee’s contact as well.

Potential exposure claims outside of workers’ comp
Generally, an employee’s exclusive remedy for negligence claims lies within the workers’ compensation program. The Workers’ Compensation Act contains certain limited exceptions, including one for injuries resulting from an employer’s intentional tort upon an employee. Thus in order for an employee to bring a claim against an employer outside of the workers’ compensation system, the employee must prove that the injury was the result of an intentional act on the part of the employer.

Despite the high bar in Ohio for a plaintiff to bring a claim against an employer outside the worker’s compensation system, employers may see intentional tort claims where a plaintiff alleges that because of an inadequate safety plan, or the lack of a safety plan entirely, the employer effectively intended to expose its workers to COVID-19.

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