News & Analysis as of

Employer Liability Issues Negligence Workplace Safety

Marshall Dennehey

Court Affirms Labor Law § 240(1) Liability Despite Lack of Witnesses and Plaintiff’s Potential Comparative Negligence

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Mederos v. 147 Amsterdam (2025 NY Slip OP 01895 (237 AD3d 410) - The plaintiff was injured when he fell off a scaffold. However, there were no witnesses who saw him fall. Other workers heard a sound and then found the...more

Littler

Virginia’s New “Vulnerable Victim” Law Increases Employers’ Potential for Vicarious Liability in Personal Injury and Wrongful...

Littler on

A new Virginia law, effective July 1, 2025, adds Section 8.01-42.6 to the Virginia Code to address employers’ vicarious liability for their employees’ tortious conduct in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits brought by...more

Maison Law

Worker's Comp Versus Personal Injury in California

Maison Law on

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, a reported 419,000 private-sector employees in California sustained workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022. Workplace incidents in the state claimed 508 employees'...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Firearms in the Workplace

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In 2021, there was a mass shooting at a high school in Michigan in which four students were killed. As a result of this shooting, not only was the shooter prosecuted, but the parents of the shooter were charged with criminal...more

Lewitt Hackman

California Courts Weighing In re Employees and COVID-19

Lewitt Hackman on

California courts recently issued two guiding decisions relating to COVID-19: In Thai v. International Business Machines Corp., 2023 Cal. App. LEXIS 526, the Court of Appeal held that a government mandate to work from...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

California Supreme Court Declines to Impose Tort Duty on Employers to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 to Employees’ Households

CDF Labor Law LLP on

The California Supreme Court held last week that a California employer does not owe a duty of care to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to members of an employee’s household. In a unanimous decision, Kuciemba v. Victory...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

California Supremes Set Bounds on Employer Duty to Non-Workers

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court unanimously held that while claims brought by an employee’s spouse for COVID injury are not barred by the Workers’ Compensation Act’s (WCA) exclusivity provision, policy...more

Fisher Phillips

California Supreme Court Shuts Down COVID-19 Liability Claim from Worker’s Wife: 4 Key Takeaways for Employers

Fisher Phillips on

The California Supreme Court handed employers a win last week by making it clear that they do not have a duty to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to employees' household members. The court didn’t go so far as to say such claims...more

MoFo Employment Law Commentary (ELC)

Employer Take Home Test: California Supreme Court To Consider Employer Liability For So-Called Take Home COVID-19

COVID-19-related litigation remains on the frontline as the California Supreme Court agreed to decide, in Corby Kuciemba et al. v. Victory Woodworks Inc., case number S274191, whether employers may be liable for COVID-19...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

California Supreme Court to Determine Scope of Employer Liability for At-Home Spread of COVID-19

Last week, the California Supreme Court agreed to decide two unique questions with far-reaching implications for employer liability: (1) may an employer be held liable to an employee’s spouse when an employee contracts...more

Fisher Phillips

PEO Pointers: The California Supreme Court Greenlights “Gamechanger” Trial of COVID-19 Negligence Claims

Fisher Phillips on

Welcome to “PEO Pointers,” a regular series of quick-read alerts to keep PEOs and their client companies up to speed on the latest issues affecting the industry and what they can do to ensure compliance. The California...more

Fisher Phillips

California Court Ruling Opens Door to COVID-19 Claims by Non-Employees Catching Virus from Workers

Fisher Phillips on

A common question posed during the pandemic has been whether employers can face liability for COVID-19 infections originating in the workplace. As to employees who contract COVID-19, the answer has been that an employee’s...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Employer Not Liable For Spouse’s COVID-19 Infection, California Court Rules

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. courts are wrestling with a growing number of new legal theories related to COVID-19. Not surprisingly, California – the most populous state with some of the most employee friendly...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

The Year Ahead: Litigation Hot Spots at a Glance

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

With COVID-19 giving rise to a whole host of new claims ranging from issues surrounding remote work to tuition reimbursement as well as new developments in the area of sexual orientation and gender identity, employers need a...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Intersection Between COVID-19 and Worker's Compensation Immunity: Are Employers at Risk of Civil Litigation?

Rumberger | Kirk on

Florida employers may be at risk of civil litigation if employees successfully circumvent the workers’ compensation scheme for COVID-19 related injury or death during the course and scope of their employment.  In fact,...more

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

COVID-19 and Unprecedented: Litigation Insights - Issue 23, September 2020

COVID-19 and Unprecedented: Litigation Insights, Issue 23 - This 23rd edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, sees us returning from a brief Labor Day break. The spate of lawsuits...more

K&L Gates LLP

COVID-19: Proposed SAFE TO WORK Act Would Provide Businesses Broad COVID-19 Liability Protections

K&L Gates LLP on

As Congress continues to discuss the next coronavirus (COVID-19) stimulus package, one bill in particular has become a flash point in the negotiations: the SAFE TO WORK Act, which would provide far-reaching liability...more

Cozen O'Connor

Employers Should Prepare for Wave of COVID-Related Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Cozen O'Connor on

The latest projections estimate that nearly 300,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 by the end of 2020. Many of those individuals will be employed when they contract the virus, and a significant number will be workers in...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Hirer Of Independent Contractor Was Not Liable For Death Of Latter’s Employee

Horne v. Ahern Rentals, Inc., 50 Cal. App. 5th 192 (2020) - The surviving heirs of Ruben Dickerson sued Ahern Rentals, a company that leases forklifts and other heavy-duty construction vehicles to its customers....more

Fisher Phillips

Employers Face Increase In COVID-19 Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Fisher Phillips on

As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise, so too does the number of lawsuits filed against employers. Recently, an increasing number of families of employees who died from COVID-19 have asserted wrongful death actions...more

Fisher Phillips

Mining MSHA – What Is Unwarrantable Failure?

Fisher Phillips on

Welcome to “Mining MSHA,” a regular series of posts focusing on mine safety fundamentals – but designed for both new and experienced mine safety professionals. This series will help safety professionals develop their MSHA...more

Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP

The Unhappy Meal – A Case Study In The Importance Of Developing & Executing An Effective Return-To-Work Policy

In today’s environment, business as usual is anything but usual. Companies are struggling to normalize operations and bring their employees back to work in a safe, healthy environment that is also safe for the public. The...more

Fisher Phillips

Mining MSHA - What is Negligence?

Fisher Phillips on

Welcome to “Mining MSHA,” a regular series of posts focusing on mine safety fundamentals – but designed for both new and experienced mine safety professionals. This series will help safety professionals develop their MSHA...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

The Novel Coronavirus Is Giving Rise To Novel Lawsuits Against Employers

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

Typically, an employees’ exclusive remedy for work-related injuries is through their state’s workers’ compensation system. As an example, suppose an employee suffers a work-related injury as a result of her employer’s...more

Jackson Walker

COVID-19 and the Non-Subscriber Employer

Jackson Walker on

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented challenges for companies striving to ensure a safe work environment. Scrutinizing the manner in which companies have addressed these challenges has so far been conducted...more

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