"Businesses should be very concerned about these cases," said labor and employment attorney Tom Gies of Crowell & Moring, which defends employers. The U.S. workers compensation system generally makes it difficult for workers to sue for COVID-19. The system caps liability for businesses and bars costly lawsuits in return for quick payments to employees, who do not need to prove fault. It lists 18 categories of alleged shortcomings by Byrne & Schaefer, including failing to clean work areas and ignoring employees who said they had COVID-19 symptoms. Lawyers said employers would likely be reluctant to settle the cases for significant sums until claims were vetted in the court system.

Source: Mint September 28, 2020 10:40 UTC