Pama Brown lost her catering job of 13 years at Brown University right before the coronavirus crisis, and she’s been in no rush to find another job because of her husband’s fragile health and her fear of carrying the virus home.
Brown’s diabetic husband, who’s in his mid-60s, developed a compromised respiratory system since coming out of a coma from a motorcycle accident. So the Cranston couple has been relying on her unemployment benefits to pay the bills – less than $800 a week, even with extra federal stimulus money factored in.
But Brown is worried because the extra benefits from the government are set to evaporate on July 31 while the health risk that comes with her returning to the workforce will remain.
“There’s no way to isolate while catering,” Brown said in explaining why she believes getting a new job is out of the question right now. “We’ll be reduced to the basic living expenses being greater than our income.”
Pama Brown is not alone.
Jobless Americans across the country are receiving heftier unemployment benefits these days – in some cases bringing in more than they would if they were still employed. Others have been working from the comfort and safety of their own home. But as states such as Rhode Island move to slowly reopen the economy, it’s raising difficult legal questions in the minds of employees and employers over the return to the workplace.
Can an employee refuse to return to their job, particularly if they feel unsafe? Do the unemployed forfeit their benefits if they’re recalled by their employer but don’t go? Can companies force workers to be physically present?
Gregory Tumolo, an employment law attorney at Providence-based Duffy & Sweeney Ltd., has been fielding such questions from businesses. Part of his answer right now: Those people who work for businesses considered nonessential can refuse to come into work if they claim a lack of precautions in their workplace.
“The [R.I.] Department of Labor and Training considers that a good-cause quit and [the employee] would be able to collect unemployment,” Tumolo said.
At the same time, he is encouraging his clients who are employers to follow Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s executive orders, provide face masks for workers, allow space for social distancing and step up cleaning in the workplace.
So far, the gray area between shutdown and restart has caused difficulty for business owners such as Dr. Catherine Lund, who operates City Kitty Veterinary Care for Cats Inc. in Providence.
Her practice remains open but with restrictive protocols – vet technicians are going outside to retrieve pets from owners, who are prohibited from the building. Instead, they wait in the parking lot for exams to be completed.
But even with precautions, Lund said, her staff has been uneasy. Two employees have stayed away from the office for the month of April because of fears of contracting COVID-19.
“A good chunk of the folks here are nervous and on edge,” she said. “One was driving into work and turned around and went back home. But we have people that depend on us for their cat’s health.”
Unwilling to lose valued members of her staff, Lund is having employees who aren’t willing to return use their sick time instead.
Alicia Samolis, a law partner at the Providence firm Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, said one of the biggest underlying issues is that beefed up unemployment benefits – part of the $2 trillion federal stimulus package – are more lucrative for some people than earning a paycheck.
‘A good chunk of the folks here are nervous and on edge.’
DR. CATHERINE LUND, City Kitty Veterinary Care for Cats Inc. owner
Samolis said the situation has created attendance problems with some clients that are considered essential businesses.
When asked about this at a recent Providence Business News summit, DLT Director Scott R. Jensen said the state will take action to stop unemployment benefits in certain cases.
“If a company opens up and a person is available to come back to work and they don’t, they are not eligible for unemployment insurance,” Jensen said. “We will freeze their account and have a discussion with them about going back to work.”
In other cases of employees refusing to work, Samolis said her advice to clients is to proceed with caution.
Employers may be legally obligated to grant unpaid leave for employees who are at risk because of a disability, such as an immunity disorder. And in other cases, paid sick leave may be mandated if a person is in quarantine, is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a diagnosis, or is caring for someone because of COVID-19.
However, Samolis said, the situation is shifting, and some elements of employee rights could change as states move through the phases of reopening.
“Emergency legislation could happen if there’s a fear of exposure,” she said.
But even as some businesses begin to reopen, Tumolo said companies should remain on alert for the coronavirus.
Employees should be sent home immediately if they’re experiencing any symptoms, he said, and employers should conduct contact tracing to determine who else has been exposed. It’s up to businesses to notify other employees who would likely have been exposed without identifying the potential carrier, he said.
Because developments surrounding the coronavirus and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to evolve, Tumolo said stricter limits of customers going into businesses could vary by location as soft reopening continues.
He also advised that employers monitor employees for COVID-19 exposure before they enter the business site for the first time and to have an employment attorney to counsel them as government plans continue to roll out.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com.
