Watch: Preparing for Employment Issues When Reopening Your Workplace in the COVID Era
May 11, 2020< Back to Full Restart Michigan Webinar Schedule
Developing a comprehensive plan for employees to physically reenter workspaces is challenging and complex. Businesses must determine which workers need to come back, create a phased approach for reentry, and adjust workspaces to accommodate social distancing and provide a safe and healthy environment. At the same time, businesses must comply with new federal laws and with ever-changing government orders.
In this webinar, Butzel Long Attorneys Brett Miller and Sarah Nirenberg discuss how to navigate this difficult process while balancing employee concerns with business requirements, common issues and how to deal with them, how to interpret the new laws, and how to limit legal exposure.
Nirenberg emphasizes that to comply with the State of Michigan, businesses must now give their employees training on how to remain safe in the workplace. They will also need to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks to their employees and will need to train them on proper usage. Different industries will likely have different PPE requirements.
“The more training employees receive, the more confident they are going to feel going back to the workplace that you are instituting measures that are keeping them safe,” says Nirenberg. “Besides being required, we are really encouraging all of our clients and all businesses to give their employees a lot of training so they can understand their workplace really cares about protecting them.”
Miller and Nirenberg outline various scenarios where businesses will need to proceed with caution. Possible roadblocks for businesses include:
- Employees refusing to return to work because they receive more pay on unemployment or feel unsafe
- How to proceed with employees more vulnerable to COVID-19 or who live with someone vulnerable
- Employees having issues finding suitable childcare
- Employees choosing to travel
Detroit Regional Chamber Vice President of Government Relations Brad Williams moderates the discussion.
Who should listen in?
Businesses of all industries
Presenters:
Brett Miller, Shareholder and Employment Practices Liability Insurance Practice Leader, Butzel Long Sarah Nirenberg, Associate, Butzel Long