Coronavirus Update 11-11-2020: Working in an office instead of working from home doubles the risk of contracting COVID-19

You are literally making Covid worse if you are refusing to permit employees to work from home.

According to a recently published CDC study, employees who work in an office setting are nearly twice as likely to contract COVID-19 than employees who work from home. 

Four Years

November third 2020
Sitting anxiously on my bedroom floor
I've got other things to worry about
Like how I did on my test today
But rather than worrying about my grades
I'm afraid my rights are gonna get taken away

That's the opening verse to Four Years, a song my 14-year-old daughter wrote on the afternoon of Election Day. She's really proud of it and I'm really proud of her; with her permission, I'm sharing it with you.

Elections profoundly impact people. They matter. This year's election hit harder and mattered more than any other in my lifetime. I've enjoyed watching that impact through the eyes of my two kids, who aren't yet old enough to vote or to have a meaningful voice in the process. I know one of mine is very much looking forward to four years from now when she can turn her voice into a vote for the first time.

Coronavirus Update 11-9-2020: COVID-19 and no-fault attendance policies

Can you "point" an employee under a no-fault attendance policy for a coronavirus-related absence? For example, an employee sick with COVID-19 or awaiting test results, quarantined because of an exposure, or at home because a child needs care?

For the uninitiated, no-fault attendance policies operate by having workers accumulate "points" for missing work, arriving late, or other attendance-related issues; after the accumulation of a pre-determined number of "points," employees face discipline or even termination.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these policies are not only unnecessarily cruel, but they also might be illegal.

Coronavirus Update 11-6-2020: Accountability

The NFL has fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000 and stripped them of a 2021 draft pick for "brazen and repeated violations" of the league's COVID-19 protocols. The violations include repeated incidents of players and coaches not wearing masks and permitting players to attend a charity event maskless while mingling with the crowd. The fines and penalty came after repeated warnings (and prior fines) by the NFL.

If your business's COVID-19 rules are to have any meaning, you need to be prepared to stand behind them with discipline and even termination if necessary. These are important safety rules that are absolutely necessary to beat back this virus, especially as cases are spiking and we are hitting record numbers on a daily basis.

Coronavirus Update 11-5-2020: OSHA levies $2 million in COVID-related citations and penalties

Are you tired of the endless din of vote counts and election news? Let's get back to the uplifting topic of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

OSHA recently announced a spate of COVID-related citations totaling $2,025,431 in fines. 

If you care about the future of democracy, then we have to count every single vote

As I type at 6:30 am on the morning after, we still don't know who won the presidency. There are 9 states and 87 electoral votes undecided, and few of those states (Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania) will ultimately determine the winner.

Yet, in the wee hours of the morning, Donald Trump took to a White House podium and stated his clear and unambiguous intent to go to the Supreme Court to stop the counting of outstanding votes, which he says is "a fraud on the American public." 

Music will get my through the next few days (I hope) — my survival playlist

There is no doubt that life is stressful right now. Between the exponentially and dangerously rising COVID-19 numbers (and the unwillingness of enough of us to take the basic health and safety measure to tame them and protect us all) and the election (which literally feels like the future of our nation is on the ballot) I'm bundle of nerves.

When I feel this way, I turn to music to calm me. So I thought I'd share my Desperate Times — Songs to Survive By playlist (ed. note: not everyone would consider all of these songs to be "calming," but my list my songs). Some are protest songs that feel particularly timely and some just flat out bring an optimistic smile to my face.

How are you planning to survive these stressful days with your sanity intact? Any songs you'd recommend I add to my playlist? Drop a comment below, @ or DM on Twitter, or leave a comment on LinkedIn here.

Coronavirus Update 10-30-2020: I’m tired

As we round the corner to month eight of "living with COVID-19," I thought now is a good time to ask everyone, "How are you doing?"

Me? I'm tired.

Coronavirus Update 10-29-2020: The Dodgers might be World Series winners, but they’re COVID-19 losers

Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series. In the 8th inning of their clinching game 6, the Dodgers pulled third baseman Justin Turner from the game. No one knew why at the time. It was only after the game that it was announced that the team pulled Turner because he had tested positive for COVID-19. 

Why then was Turned allowed to join his team on the field (maskless no less) to celebrate their victory?!

Coronavirus Update 10-28-2020: The 10th nominee for the “worst employer of 2020” is … the whistleblower whacker

SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, describes itself as "the foremost expert, convener, and thought leader on issues impacting today's evolving workplaces." Physician, heal thyself!

According to a recent lawsuit filed against SHRM (as reported by The New Yorker), SHRM may have a huge whistleblower retaliation problem on its hands.

Time to make sure your business has an Election Day plan. #vote

Election Day is in seven days. By all predictions, this election will see a record number of voters. As long as Election Day remains a working day, employees will show up to work late, leave work early, or take long lunches, just so that they can vote.

Please make sure your employees have sufficient time to do so. For starters, it's important that employees are able to exercise their voting rights. Secondly, at least here in Ohio, it's the law.

Results—Would you boycott a business based on the candidate it supports? #vote

The results are. Thank you to the 244 of you took the time to answer my question: Would you boycott a business based on the candidate whom it (or, more accurately, its ownership) supports for President in this election?

The results:

Yes = 58.6%
No = 41.4%

Coronavirus Update 10-23-2020: Please stop telling me that we all just need to get on with living our lives

Earlier this week, I posed what I thought was a simple question on the private Facebook page of my community's homeowners' association: given the current rise of COVID-19 cases, should we, as a community, rethink our trick-or-treating plans. It was intended to start a generative discussion about whether we can host public trick-or-treating safely, but it quickly devolved into insults and name-calling.

The general theme of my pro-Halloween opponents was some combination of—if you don’t feel safe stay home in your basement; and we need to live our lives. People felt comfortable expressing this opinion even after others had commented about family members COVID-19 had killed. 

Coronavirus Update 10-22-2020: New CDC guidance will result in A LOT more employee absences

Yesterday, the CDC made a key update to its COVID-19 guidance. It made a significant change to the definition of "close contact."

No longer does one qualify as a "close contact" by being within 6 feet of someone for 15 continuous minutes or more. 

The CDC now defines "close contact" as:

Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period) starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated."

Would you boycott a business based on the candidate it supports?

Over the weekend I got into an interesting discussion on Twitter with a couple of my favorite musicians, Brendon Benson and Caitlin Rose. Here's the question:

would you boycott an artist or actor based on the candidate for whom their voting, in this POTUS election?

— Brendan Benson (@brendanbensongs) October 18, 2020

I'd like to expand this topic further and ask, Would you boycott a business based on the candidate whom it (or more accurately, its owner) supports for president in this election? 

PLEASE don’t tell your employees which candidate to vote for

This post at the Evil HR Lady Facebook group caught my attention yesterday:

Florida company's president warns employees their jobs could be in danger if Trump loses election

Coronavirus Update 10-19-2020: The 10th nominee for the “worst employer of 2020” is … the callous car dealer

I continue to shake my head at the callousness of employers during this pandemic. Consider this example from The Oregonian, which earns its spot as the 10th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020.  

A finance manager at a used car dealership in Portland was fired by his boss during a staff meeting for questioning the company’s alleged cover-up of a coronavirus cluster, a lawsuit claims.  

Coronavirus Update 10-16-2020: The benefit of being prepared

When you get the call, you better be prepared. This maxim holds true in business, in the law, and in life in general.

Our favorite local wine bar has been hosting outdoor, socially distant concerts since shortly after the State of Ohio allowed it to reopen. Last Friday, their booked artist canceled last minute, which led to a 4:00 pm phone call for Norah to fill in. 

I had to quickly work through the stress of a 14-year-old who did not know if she could pull off a three-hour solo gig on 90 minutes' notice. I reminded her that she's spent the last six months writing originals and playing covers in her bedroom, in the backyard, and on Zoom for the Rockin' the Suburbs "Friday Night Hootenanny." Thus, she made her setlist, we packed her gear into the car, and off we went.

What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate

An employee suffers an injury that prevents her from operating a motor vehicle. With no means of transportation to travel to and from her workplace, the employee calls off work, believing that her absences were excused. They weren't, and the employer fires her for excessive absences.

She sues, claiming disability discrimination, in part because of the company's failure to accommodate her inability to drive.

Coronavirus Update 10-14-2020: Reporting an employee who tests positive

When an employee tests positive, an employer has certain reporting obligations. These obligations fall into two categories—reporting to OSHA and reporting to your state or local health agency under state law.

OSHA

While OSHA has remained largely silent on mandates for businesses related to COVID-19, it has published specific guidance on when an employer must record and report COVID cases at work.