More employers require face masks; but bosses, not staff, should enforce rule.

Sure, those face masks have been proven to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. But employment lawyers say there's another good reason to mandate them in the workplace for staff and customers--masks will reduce the spread of legal trouble, too.

Masks can cut the potential for spikes in workers' compensation claims and lawsuits from customers and clients who claim they've been infected in your workplace. The past few months have seen many employers require masks, even if state or local laws don't require it.

Enforcing your rule. Mask mandates, however, have triggered conflicts that turned violent in some cases. You may have seen video of Walmart and Costco greeters berated by maskless customers who were refused entry. At a Trader Joe's in New York, an employee was beaten after asking two customers to wear a mask. And a 17-year-old worker at the Sesame Place park in Pennsylvania was assaulted and hospitalized after reminding two visitors about the mask policy.

In all these cases, low-wage employees were put in charge of enforcing local, state or corporate mandates. That's neither fair nor safe.

"Do not ask or expect a nonmanagement employee to handle removal of a noncompliant visitor, guest or customer," advised the Fisher Phillips employment law firm.

Instead, employers should deploy trained personnel to enforce mask mandates, ideally security but a least someone at a management level. Train other employees not to engage mask violators, but instead summon a...