Bill Would End COVID Immunity for Employers

Monday, June 13, 2022 | 0

Michigan lawmakers will consider a bill that would expire the legal immunity given to employers that follow workplace safety regulations and whose employees contract COVID-19.

HB 6173, introduced Thursday, would end the immunity granted in 2020 legislation that stated, “an employer is not liable … for an employee’s exposure to COVID-19 if the employer was operating in compliance with all federal, state and local statutes, rules and regulations, executive orders, and agency orders related to COVID-19 that had not been denied legal effect at the time of the exposure.”

The 2020 law also stated that “(a)n isolated, de minimis deviation from strict compliance with such statutes, rules, regulations, executive orders and agency orders unrelated to the employee’s exposure to COVID-19 does not deny an employer the immunity.”  

The latest bill would not apply to an exposure to COVID-19 that occurs after July 1, 2022.

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