DOL and OSHA citing more COVID violators.

The pandemic has ushered in a new list of reasons that employees can sue your organization. But as recent statistics show, you also need to worry about enforcement actions from increasingly active federal agencies.

LEAVE LAWS The U.S. Department of Labor continues to cite employers for violating the paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Many cases involve employees who requested paid leave after being diagnosed with COVID and parents who needed to care for children at home following school closures.

Here's an example of cases in just the past few weeks:

Quarantine ordered: After a Montana worker was ordered to quarantine by his doctor, he was denied his allowable FFCRA paid leave by his employer. The DOL ordered the employer to pay $1,600 in back wages. The FFCRA specifically requires employers to grant paid leave if an employee is ordered to quarantine.

Day care center closed: An Atlanta company had to pay an employee $1,153 in back wages. The employee needed time off because her child's day care center closed due to the pandemic. Her employer denied emergency paid FMLA leave, in violation of the FFCRA.

Positive coronavirus test followed by self-quarantine: A Florida landscaping company was ordered to pay $1,200 in back wages after wrongly denying emergency paid sick leave to an employee who self-quarantined after receiving a coronavirus diagnosis.

Distance learning: The DOL ordered an Alabama janitorial company to pay $2,066 in back wages after it denied paid leave to a worker who missed work to care for her child, who was distance learning at home.

SAEFTY While the federal OSHA is doing more advising on COVID protocols than enforcement...