Employers that require employees to take a COVID shot may be held liable for adverse injuries and death. The fact that OSHA will not enforce recording requirements does not alter the legal liability of employers who require, coerce, or incentivize
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Since Liberty Counsel messaged last week on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s guidance that employers may face liability if the employer requires employees to receive COVID shots and thereafter suffer adverse reactions or death, over the weekend, OSHA suspended the requirement for employers to report injuries related to work respecting COVID shots. This suspension of law by OSHA does not change the fact that employers may be held liable under workers compensation laws or under civil personal injury laws.
Until last weekend, the guidance from OSHA stated that employers could be held liable if they mandate employees to take COVID-19 injections as a condition of employment and then they experience adverse reactions. Under a “Frequently Asked Questions” section of OSHA’s website it stated, “If you require your employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment (i.e., for work-related reasons), then any adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is work-related. The adverse reaction is recordable if it is a new case under 29 CFR 1904.6 and meets one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7.”
