I work at a veterinary hospital, my employer (Boss) has disregarded several safety factors and made unnecessary risks for the employees; several of whom have medical conditions and past respiratory problems. He refuses to allow them to go home with pay and says we can leave without pay or unemployment. The boss believes the whole ordeal is a joke and continues to take regular appointments when we should be only doing emergency's. Supplies are limited (masks, gloves and sanitizing agents) and there’s a possibility these animals could be carrying the virus from their owner. A client that was supposed to be in isolation after returning from a foreign trip was allowed to drop an animal off at our hospital. The boss said if a client came in that tested positive for the virus they were not obligated to tell us. We all honestly don’t feel safe coming into work with such disregard for our well being. My question is do we have any legal ground to stand on? Or possibly a lawsuit?
Newly enacted legislation in response to the virus has been enacted. Your employer may have to allow you to use sick leave and you may have entitlement to paid FMLA after 10 days. In the meantime I would document your concerns in writing to your employer. If you are fired you may have a OSHA retaliation claim.
I am sorry you don't feel safe, this virus is deadly almost exclusively to those of advanced age. that is why italy and japan have high death tolls, because they have a lot of old people living there. I don't know why our government feels that this virus, which is less deadly than many flu viruses, should shut down the economy. if you don't want to go to work you could stay home and you might have a lawsuit against your employer if you do get fired, but I always tell my clients it's better to have a job than a lawsuit. you can get yourself a mask and gloves and wear it to work and spray yourself with an essential oil mix and go to work. I don't think that at this moment your boss is violating any laws, but that changes quickly so you can follow the news to see.
