In the new COVID world in which the traditional office has been replaced in full or in part by a work from home existence, many of us never think about the issues that arise when we are doing our jobs at the kitchen table.
- What if you get up to answer the phone and trip? Is that a work-related issue under the Workers’ Compensation Law?
- Suppose you decide to meet with a client at home and he trips over the rug at the front door and breaks a leg. When he makes a personal injury claim, whose insurance covers the liability? Is it your homeowners or your boss’ insurance?
- What about if your child clicks on a link in an email that suddenly installs ransomware on your home computer, which you are using for work, in violation of your company’s computer use policy? And of course, the ransomware gets transmitted to the office and the entire network is suddenly the prisoner of a cybercriminal? Does the office’s cyberinsurance cover you? Or does the office even have cyberinsurance?
These are just three issues that could arise. There are many more. Just Google work from home liability and see what the results show. It’s clear that everyone who works from home has to consider all of these situations. More importantly, if you own or run a business, these issues are important.
Fortunately, there are answers, from lawyers and insurance professionals, among others, who understand the legal issues, from the more mundane workers’ compensation and liability issues to the more complicated technology issues. For lawyers, there are additional issues relating to confidentiality under the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Few law firms can address all of these issues, but we are able to. Because we represent injured workers and injured individuals, as well as businesses, and because our firms, the Law Offices of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC and Integrated Technology Services, LLC are pioneers in the growing area of techno-ethics, we can help.
But just like it’s important to have an annual physical, it is equally important for businesses and work from home workers to be proactive and plan ahead, and get a check-up. Give us a call and see how we can help guide you from the minefields that COVID has created.