{"id":8076,"date":"2020-03-09T15:13:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T19:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/coronavirus-and-your-job\/"},"modified":"2022-06-21T21:27:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T01:27:20","slug":"coronavirus-and-your-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/article\/coronavirus-and-your-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus and Your Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak spreads, people who have jobs are worried about contracting the virus at work or during their commutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Generally, if employees cite coronavirus concerns and refuse to come to work, employers can legally <\/span>terminate them<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Working from home is not a fundamental right even under the Americans with Disabilities Act. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, the United States has a number of workplace safety laws. <\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, in terms of coronavirus fears, \u201cemployers [are] preemptively going well beyond what OSHA would ever require,\u201d according to one labor lawyer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As of early March, there have been 128 confirmed cases and nine confirmed coronavirus deaths in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Rights When You Get Sick at Work<\/b><\/h2>\n

In a nutshell, you have the right to a safe and secure place to work. When it comes to contagious disease outbreaks, these maxims include a lot of grey area. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak, many agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, significantly updated their rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 compensation<\/span><\/a> covers many occupational diseases, such as hearing loss and repetitive stress disorder. <\/span><\/p>\n

These benefits usually include wage replacement and medical bill payment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, job injury victims receive two-thirds of their average weekly wage until they can go back to work. <\/span><\/p>\n

In more serious cases, such as a coronavirus death, alternative wage replacement is usually available. <\/span><\/p>\n

Medical bill payment usually includes all reasonably necessary medical expenses, from the first day of emergency care to the last day of physical therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Viral illnesses usually involve proof issues. Injured victims need not establish fault. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, they must prove that they got sick at work, and not on the way to or from work. <\/span><\/p>\n

This burden is difficult to meet, unless a significant number of your co-workers contracted the same illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

The aforementioned <\/span>OSHA workplace safety rules<\/span><\/a> require every employer to \u201cprovide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Specifics include the right to:<\/span><\/p>\n