Dive Brief:
- Employers aren’t liable for their employees contracting COVID-19 at work and spreading it to their family members, even if the employer was negligent in its safety practices, the California Supreme Court ruled on July 6 in a big win for business.
- The derivative injury rule of the state’s worker compensation law doesn’t prevent non-employees from bringing a personal injury or wrongful death case against an employer, but because of the scope of COVID-19, the burden of protecting workers can’t fall on employers, the court said.
- “Because it is impossible to eliminate the risk of infection, even with perfect implementation of best practices, the prospect of liability for infections outside the workplace could encourage employers to adopt precautions that unduly slow the delivery of essential services to the public,” Associate Justice Carol Corrigan said in the unanimous opinion in Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks.
Dive Insight:
In the suit, Corby Kuciemba sought compensation from Victory for her month-long hospital stay for COVID-19 complications after her husband brought the virus home from his construction job.
The lawsuit was originally filed in late 2020 in state court but was moved to federal district court, where it was dismissed on the grounds the company’s duty to provide a safe workplace didn’t extend to non-employees.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, after taking the case, asked for the opinion of the California Supreme Court. The opinion it handed...
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https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5sZWdhbGRpdmUuY29t...
