Ronald Schiller, chairman of Philadelphia-based Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, said his office has been inundated with phone calls and emails from clients asking questions about what they need to do to protect themselves.
He said businesses must follow guidance from health authorities.
“It’s a period of uncertainty, with employers following the guidelines and reasonable extensions of the guidelines to the extent they can,” Schiller said. “But not knowing when, if ever, things will return to normal — when there will be a vaccine, whether precautions implemented now will have to continue for the foreseeable future, or even the long term.”
Schiller said it will require employers to reconfigure their workspaces: “Practice safe distancing. Require masks of visitors and people entering the workplace. Control workflow; have corridors as much as possible one-directional. Minimize the number of people on elevators, minimize people waiting in common areas.”
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He suggested other operational adjustments, like lunchrooms and coffee stations, so multiple people aren’t congregating and touching the same things.
And, if someone becomes ill, Schiller said to follow the CDC guidance while, at the same time, protecting an individual’s privacy under federal HIPAA laws.
As long as businesses take a prudent approach and follow the directives from health authorities, Schiller said they should be covered.