Employers find flu threat is nothing to sneeze at

Oct 26th, 2009 by Mark Cohen

The H1N1 virus (or, as I like to call it, the flu formerly known as swine) means “big business” to the legal community, the Star Tribune reports.

Well, “big business” may be something of an exaggeration — as most of the piece seems to be about a smattering of calls attorneys have gotten from employers concerned about their obligations regarding outbreak prevention and dealing with infected employees. It’s certainly a little bit of work, but hardly a panacea for local firms’ ailing M&A practice areas, for example.

“This potential for an outbreak is probably over-hyped, but you’d hate not to be worried about it,” Rebecca Bernhard, a member of the labor and employment practice group at the Minneapolis firm of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly, told the Strib. “This is probably the first year that I’ve received calls about the flu.”

As is true with a lot of legal issues, the advice that lawyers offer generally comes down to good old-fashioned common sense. Tidbits include post signs telling folks to wash their hands, provide hand wash, be generous about allowing sick leave (but be consistent), limit unnecessary travel, etc. (Just send me a check for $100 — my $400/rate billed in quarterly increments …). It’s probably not OK to order an employee to get vaccinated, which I suspected I knew, but it’s always more reassuring to hear an employment lawyer say it, isn’t it?

In sum, the advice corporations will get from their lawyers on dealing with a flu outbreak is pretty similar to the advice they could get from their moms– minus the chicken noodle soup.

Posted in Uncategorized

5 Responses to “Employers find flu threat is nothing to sneeze at”

Newly Minted 2009 says:

October 26, 2009 at 2:13 pm

That’s true, but I can’t sue my mom for malpractice if her advice turns out bad. Spending a few hundred to have outside counsel inoculate your decision making = priceless? Just a thought at motivation …

BTW — you used that word “pretty” again, so I’m going to have to remind you that your HR software wants you to reconsider your wording.
Mark Cohen says:

October 26, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Beautifully put … errr … wait ….
Newly Minted 2009 says:

October 26, 2009 at 2:24 pm

haha indeed
Anonymous says:

October 26, 2009 at 2:53 pm

Unlike moms, employment lawyers can help draft modifications to sick leave/PTO policies that can help employers to better deal with outbreaks and alleviate employee concerns about exhausting their available leave if they get sick with the flu.
Mark Cohen says:

October 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm

Or, in other words, tell employers to act reasonably, be compassionate toward their employees and show some flexibility ….

But I am not saying the lawyer doesn’t have a role. (we are a lawyers’ blog after all!) The ideas the lawyers are putting into effect are basic human nature (what mom taught), but the attorneys are still needed for the execution of those ideas into legally compliant policies. (To paraphrase Alexander Pope, True Lawyering is nature to advantage dressed, what oft was thought, but ne’re so well expressed.)

And, of course, plenty of employment lawyers are moms …