COVID-19: News and Updates |
| Special #22 - April 21, 2020 |
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Articles and Updates Today
- White House Guidelines To States For Reopening April 16, 2020
- Kemp announces plans to incrementally reopen Georgia | Here's what that includes Author: Donesha Aldridge (11Alive)
Published: 5:34 PM EDT April 20, 2020
-May employees receive both sick and family leave wages under the federal coronavirus-related laws? Apr. 20, 2020
- LEGAL BULLETIN: Treating COVID-19 as a workers’ comp illness may open a can of worms Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP
By Kitty Boyte and Marcia McShane / Nashville Office
April 20, 2020
- ¶46,875 OSHA will consider employers’ good-faith efforts when enforcing compliance during coronavirus pandemic — AGENCY GUIDANCE, Apr. 20, 2020
- Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report
* Note: If you have any employment law/HR topics or issues you would like to see us cover in the News and Updates please email us at chris@georgiaemployers.org.
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| | | | | READ: White House Guidelines To States For Reopening
April 16, 2020
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| | Kemp announces plans to incrementally reopen Georgia|Here's what that includes 'We appreciate the leadership and share in the president's desire to reopen the economy and get Americans back to work.'
Author: Donesha Aldridge (11Alive) Published: 5:34 PM EDT April 20, 2020 Updated: 5:44 PM EDT April 20, 2020
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp is working to get Georgia's economy back rolling again.
"Last week, the White House issued guidelines for states to safely reopen our nation's economy," Kemp said. "We appreciate the leadership and share in the president's desire to reopen the economy and get Americans back to work."
He said the approach the state has taken so far has been guided by data and the advice of health experts. He continues to do so going forward.
"In the same way we carefully closed businesses and urged operations to end to mitigate the virus' spread, today we are announcing plans to incrementally and safely reopen sectors of our economy," Kemp said.
Gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians and their schools, and massage therapists can reopen on Friday, April 24, Kemp said.
"These entities have been unable to manage inventory, deal with payroll, and take care of administrative items while we shelter in place," he explained. "This measure allows them to undertake baseline operations that most other businesses in the state have maintained since I issued the shelter in place order."
He said the measures would apply statewide and would be the operational standard in all jurisdictions.
"This means local action cannot be taken that is more or less restrictive," Kemp said.
However, the governor made an important note that the businesses allowed to reopen would not be back to "business as usual."
"These entities will be subject to specific restrictions including adherence to the minimal basic operations, social distancing and regular sanitation," the governor said.
Kemp said the minimal basic operations include, but are not limited to:
• screening workers for fever and respiratory illness
• enhancing workplace sanitation
• wearing gloves and masks if appropriate
• separating workspaces by at least six feet
• teleworking where at all possible
• implementing staggered shifts
"Subject to the specific social distancing and sanitation mandate, theaters, private social clubs, and restaurant dine-in services will be allowed to reopen on Monday, April 27," he said.
However, bars, nightclubs, operators of amusement park rides and live performance venues will remain closed, Kemp said. He said they will continue to evaluate what will be the best course of action for those types of businesses.
The shelter-in-place order is still set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on April 30 for most Georgians. As for the medically fragile and elderly, the governor said they should shelter in place through May 13, which is the same date the state's public health emergency is set to expire.
Kemp said they would continue to monitor hot spots in the state that have seen a large number of COVID-19 cases.
Places of worship are allowed to hold in-person services, but under the Phase One guidelines with strict social distancing. Online and call-in services, Kemp said, remain as good options.
Kemp said he believes the state is also in a position where medical workers can resume elective surgeries "deemed essential." Many facilities paused those tasks to "reduce equipment and personnel shortages."
"Given the recent change in modeling as it relates to surge capacity and national supply as the needs of other states diminished, and following weeks of discussion with hospital leaders and medical providers, I believe Georgia is positioned to secure the necessary personal protective equipment for healthcare facilities to resume elective surgeries deemed essential," Kemp said. "Today's announcement is a small step forward and should be treated as such."
President Donald Trump has unveiled a three-pronged plan geared toward returning the nation's economy to normal, despite some push-back from most of the governors across the country. Places with declining infections and strong testing would begin the three-phase gradual reopening of businesses and schools.
In phase one, for instance, the plan recommends strict social distancing for all people in public. Gatherings larger than 10 people are to be avoided and nonessential travel is discouraged.
In phase two, people are encouraged to maximize social distancing where possible and limit gatherings to no more than 50 people unless precautionary measures are taken. Travel could resume.
Phase three envisions a return to normalcy for most Americans, with a focus on the identification and isolation of any new infections.
11Alive is focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. We want to keep you informed about the latest developments while ensuring that we deliver confirmed, factual information.
We will track the most important coronavirus elements relating to Georgia on this page. Refresh often for new information.
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| | | May employees receive both sick and family leave wages under the federal coronavirus-related laws?
From: GEA HR Answers Now Apr. 20, 2020 Issue: Your company, which employs fewer than 500 employees, has workers whose childcare providers are unavailable indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, leaving them unable to work or telework to care for their children. Can these employees receive both "qualified sick leave wages" and "qualified family leave wages" under the federal coronavirus-related laws that provide for such leaves?
Answer: Yes, but at different times.
Qualified sick leave wages are available for up to 80 hours during which an employee cannot work or telework for any of six reasons related to COVID-19, including because the employee must care for his or her child whose school or place of care is closed, or whose child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19-related reasons.
By contrast, qualified family leave wages are available only because the employee must care for his or her child whose school or place of care is closed, or whose child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19-related reasons, and only after an employee has been unable to work or telework for this reason for 80 hours.
For up to the first 80 hours of any period of leave to care for their children, your employees are entitled to qualified sick leave wages, up to $200 per day and $2,000 in the aggregate. After that, they are entitled to qualified family leave wages for up to 10 weeks of additional leave that is needed, up to $200 per day and $10,000 in the aggregate.
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| | | LEGAL BULLETIN Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP By Kitty Boyte and Marcia McShane
Nashville Office
Treating COVID-19 as a workers’ comp illness may open a can of worms
April 20, 2020
Employers and insurance carriers have already begun to see workers’ compensation claims as a result of COVID-19 illnesses, and aren’t always sure how to respond. Should the claim be accepted as a compensable “occupational disease,” or denied as a risk the general public faces regardless of work activities? As with most COVID-19-related issues, the answer will depend on the specific facts. Further complicating things, the legal landscape for COVID-19-related workers’ compensation claims is changing with pending or enacted legislation in a number of states.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues interrupting the daily lives of Americans. As of April 16, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that another 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits, bringing the total number of claims during the last four weeks to a whopping 22 million. According to Stateside’s State Government Overview Report, state legislators have introduced more than 110 bills related to paid sick leave, appropriation requests, and worker protections. The Report also says that nearly 900 executive actions have been issued by governors attempting to respond to the continuously evolving environment. States also have issued emergency regulations for insurance carriers to address labor and wage issues, and other problems caused by the pandemic. For those businesses with employees still coming to work, COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims are becoming more likely.
What constitutes a valid workers’ compensation claim varies vary from state to state. Generally, for an injury or occupational disease to be considered payable, the condition must be “connected to” the employment. Before coronavirus, determining whether a particular illness was incidental to the employee’s work usually involved a determination of whether the employee was exposed to a greater risk of illness than the general public. Many states’ workers’ compensation laws exclude “ordinary diseases of life,” such as the common cold or the flu, from payable workers’ compensation claims.
Now states are taking another look at whether their laws should change. At least nine states have or are considering changes to their workers’ compensation laws as a result of the coronavirus. Most of these changes provide presumptions that a COVID-19 illness is a compensable workers’ compensation illness for health care workers and safety professionals (firefighters, first responders, police officers, etc.). In other words, those employees whose “front-line” job duties expose them to a greater risk of COVID-19 would receive the benefit of the presumption.
The states that have taken steps to address this issue include Alaska, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington. Details about the specific actions taken by these states can be found in a recent post by the Insurance Journal.
There now is a push to include other “front-line” workers, such as employees working in grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies, as well as other workers performing “essential” jobs. But determining where to draw the line will be tough. Should the presumption apply not only to “front-line” workers, but all employees of any business that meets the state’s specific definition of an “essential business”? If so, how would one determine which, if any, of those employees truly were exposed to “a greater risk” while at work? If all “front-line” workers receive the benefit of the work-related COVID-19 presumption some say is warranted, would there be a distinction between grocery stores and pharmacy employees, without which life could not be sustained during this pandemic, and “essential businesses” such as those in the construction industry, transportation industry, and others?
How would one determine whether the employee’s COVID-19 illness is “connected” to the particular hazards of the employee’s work, rather than the same risk that any member the general public would face? And, how would one determine whether the employee became ill while working, as opposed to while grocery shopping or from exposure to a friend or family member?
The U.S. Department of Labor seems to agree that connecting the coronavirus illness to an employee’s work may be a difficult task. In a recent announcement, the DOL advised that most employers will not have to include COVID-19 cases as recordable incidents for OSHA recordkeeping purposes absent “objective evidence” establishing the work-relatedness of the illness. The announcement acknowledged that determining whether a worker contracted COVID-19 while working is difficult, given the ongoing community spread of the disease.
Many industries are suffering greatly from unprecedented layoffs, closures and other financial strains related to the coronavirus. Expanding workers’ compensation liability while business owners struggle to keep the doors open and workers employed may do more harm than good. Policymakers should keep in mind that presumptions given may be difficult to take away once the emergency has passed.
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| | | ¶46,875 OSHA will consider employers’ good-faith efforts when enforcing compliance during coronavirus pandemic — AGENCY GUIDANCE,
Apr. 20, 2020
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued interim guidance advising compliance safety and health officers to evaluate employers’ good-faith efforts to comply with safety and health standards during the coronavirus pandemic. The guidance takes effect immediately, and will remain in effect until further notice.
Current infection control practices may limit the availability of employees, consultants, or contractors who normally provide training, auditing, equipment inspections, testing, and other essential safety and industrial hygiene services. Business closures and other restrictions also may preclude employee participation in training if trainers are unavailable and access to medical testing facilities may be limited or suspended.
During an inspection, compliance safety and health officers should assess an employer’s efforts to comply with standards that require annual or recurring audits, reviews, training, or assessments. They will evaluate if the employer:
- Explored all options to comply with applicable standards (e.g., use of virtual training or remote communication strategies);
- Implemented interim alternative protections, such as engineering or administrative controls; and
- Rescheduled required annual activity as soon as possible.
Employers unable to comply with OSHA requirements because local authorities required the workplace to close should demonstrate a good-faith attempt to meet applicable requirements as soon as possible following the re-opening of the workplace.
OSHA will take employers’ attempts to comply in good faith into strong consideration when determining whether it cites a violation. The agency may issue a citation if it finds an employer cannot demonstrate any efforts to comply. To ensure corrective actions employers have taken once normal activities resume, OSHA will develop a program to conduct monitoring inspections from a randomized sampling of cases where the agency noted, but did not cite, violations.
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| | | Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report
Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report For: 04/18/2020
These data represent confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health as of 04/18/2020 12:22:57.
A confirmed case is defined as a person who has tested positive for 2019 novel coronavirus.
COVID-19 Confirmed Cases: No. Cases (%)
Total 19398 (100%)
Hospitalized 3702 (19.08%)
Deaths 774 (3.99%)
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