Professor Benjamin Zipursky and James Brudney were interviewed on a Bloomberg Law podcast to share their expert opinions on possible lawsuits that could occur when businesses reopen and ongoing lawsuits for employee safety.
Benjamin Zipursky, a professor at Fordham Law School, discusses the lawsuits that stores, restaurants and theaters may face from sick customers and workers when they reopen after the coronavirus shutdowns.
June Grasso (Bloomberg Law): Would it be a defense if the businesses say “I was following the advice of health care professionals or government officials and I opened when they told me to and I did what they told me to?”
Benjamin Zipursky: No, not right now…Doing whatever the law says you’re supposed to do is not necessarily an adequate defense… You have to be reasonable…
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James Brudney, also a professor at Fordham Law School, discusses the lawsuit by a union representing New York nurses against Montefiore Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center for failing to safeguard the nurses and their families.
Grasso: Aren’t they just asking the hospitals in this lawsuit to do what the hospitals are supposed to be doing anyway?
James Brudney: Well yes, to some extent that’s exactly right…Because this is a union and they have a collective bargaining agreement with the hospital and in that collective bargaining agreement one of the articles is that the hospital will take the steps that are necessary to assure employee health and safety and that’s what they are suing to get.