Avoiding safety-based workplace retaliation claims

We're finally beginning to see light at the end of the dark COVID-19 pandemic tunnel. Case numbers are decreasing while the vaccination rate is climbing. Given the positive developments, even the most coronavirus-cautious employers are looking forward to bringing employees back on-site in 2021. With the push, however, employers face a number of obstacles in keeping their workforces safe and healthy as well as consequences for failing to do so. One consequence can arrive in the form of an Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) retaliation claim.

Navigating the new normal

Before the pandemic, OSH Act retaliation claims were traditionally a concern for employers engaged in work that was inherently hazardous in some way. With the pandemic rendering any in-person work potentially hazardous, however, businesses with little to no prior experience dealing with the OSH Act or its state-based equivalents must take heed.

Already, the number of workplace safety retaliation claims has significantly increased, with the trend expected to continue as businesses begin to return to "normal." Adding to the challenge is the fact that, despite the positive trends, the country remains in pandemic status with COVID-19 variants making the rounds. At the same time, many workers have stated they don't intend to get the vaccine now or maybe ever.