The Michigan legislature recently enacted COVID-19 related legislation, intended to do the following: (1) protect employers and businesses against liability for COVID-19 related claims, so long as they follow the laws, regulations, and orders in place at the time; and (2) protect employees if their employers are not following applicable laws, regulations, and orders.
The Legislation
The State Legislature recently enacted House Bills 6030-6032, which will be codified as Public Acts 236-238 of 2020. Here is a summary of the key points:
- PA 236 http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-236-of-2020
- Protects employers from liability for COVID-19 claims, so long as they complied with all federal, state, and local rules and orders in effect at the time
- Also protects manufacturers and distributors of PPE, as well as other businesses, again so long as they complied with all federal, state, local rules and orders in effect at the time
- Retroactive to March 2020
- PA 237 http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-408-1085
- Protects employers from liability for employee’s exposure to COVID-19 at work, so long as employer was complying with all federal, state and local requirements at the time
- PA 238 http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-238-of-2020
- Protects employees against retaliation (discipline, discharge, etc) for:
- Refusing to report to work under certain conditions
- Opposing the employer’s violation of the Act, or
- Reporting health conditions to authorities
- Requires employees who have tested positive to stay home until they meet certain criteria
- Requires employees who have a close contact test positive or have symptoms to stay home until meeting certain criteria
- Doesn’t apply in health care settings, group homes, correctional facilities, first responders, etc.
- Employees lose protection if they don’t schedule a COVID-19 test within 3 days after employer requests that they be tested
- Employees can bring civil action for injunction and/or $5,000+ damages for employer’s violation of the law
- Protects employees against retaliation (discipline, discharge, etc) for:
In addition to this new legislation, businesses should be following MIOSHA’s rules and guidelines. MIOSHA has issued COVID 19 Emergency Rules, and has a lot of good guidance on their website (including enforcement guidance).
Remote Work and Response Plan
All employers must have a remote work plan & a COVID 19 response plan, and can be fined (or otherwise disciplined) if these are not in place and/or are not being followed. MIOSHA also sets out a lot of specifics for different types of workplaces. There are industry-specific guidelines for restaurants, construction, retail, gyms, personal care services, etc. MIOSHA also has different guidelines for different risk levels of employees who are at low risk of exposure, medium risk of exposure, or high risk of exposure, depending on work environment, etc.
