Can You Sue Your Work for Giving You Coronavirus?

As we work through the Coronavirus pandemic that grips the globe, particularly the United States and its businesses, plenty of misinformation is spreading around and causing panic. People are hoarding hand sanitizer and toilet paper, making Target shopping centers and grocery stores look like ghost towns. Offices and enterprises are being cleared out as many CEOs tell their employees to work from home (telecommute) indefinitely, at least until we all have a better idea of how to contain the virus.

Some organizations don’t have the resources to enable their employees to work from home; some businesses cannot continue to operate unless their employees are in the building. For those workers, contracting the Coronavirus is a very real threat as they cannot disengage from others and practice “social distancing.” Quite the opposite, they are forced to be in contained quarters with others. Over the last few weeks, employees across the country have tested positive for Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, in the workplace, sending scares and fears to their peers and coworkers who may have also contracted the contagion.

Many workers, who have not yet been told to work from home, fear that they may join those ranks of infected individuals. Is there any legal recourse for those who have contracted COVID-19, or those who may soon contract it in the future? Well, to be truthful, that’s quite tough to say.

In order to bring a suit against an employer, or coworker, you’d need to prove that they knew they had the virus, or that one of their employees had the virus, and/or neglected to inform any other worker of the situation and also knowingly put others at risk. Essentially, someone either needed to know they were infected and took actions that knowingly put others at risk, or the employer knew an employee was sick, but did not quarantine them, and instead, hoped for the best.

Proving either of those incidents can be a bit tricky; the evidence you’d need to compile would be extensive, exhaustive, and exhausting. You need a trusted Colorado Springs family law attorney to assist you through this confusing and tricky process. Contact our offices if you feel that you’re the victim of negligence, only after you’ve contacted a doctor to treat you and then clear you of illness.