As everyone over the age of twelve is now eligible for vaccines, more questions arise for employers. MJ has developed a  resource full of frequently asked questions about the Covid vaccines. In addition, be sure to check out the Fisher Phillips vaccine resource center for employers, including their sample vaccination mandate template.

The EEOC COVID-19 website will provide some initial questions and answers to those areas of risk for your organization as an employer. As a private business, from a legal perspective, there is little preventing you from imposing a vaccination requirement on your employees. You will need to balance that against operational risks associated with a mandatory program. Generally, an employer can implement a mandatory vaccination program. This ability by the employer, however, is subject to reasonable accommodation obligations under federal, state, and local laws for those with disabilities who request a medical accommodation or those who have a religious belief against vaccinations. You do have greater latitude to consider when managing this exposure, but there still remains some regulatory and legislative boundaries that you need to review whether it be EEOC and/or OSHA on this subject. The two notable exceptions to this mandate are when an employee can attest to having a medical condition that could cause a real danger of serious illness or death in the event of inoculation and when the employee maintains privately held religious beliefs that are inconsistent with taking vaccines.

Setting aside the question of legality, each business will carefully need to consider all aspects of this matter and calculate all of the inherent risks. Now that vaccines are widely available for everyone over the age of twelve and with the full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, it makes it easier for employers to require vaccination. That being said, each employer must do what it believes is best for its operation. As a sorority headquarters and also sorority chapter house operations, you need to consider not only the health and safety of the employees operating on your property, but also the resident collegiate members. Both the EEOC and the Center for Disease Control have acknowledged the inherent risk of having a COVID-19 infected person in the workplace posing a significant risk of substantial harm to others.

Employers should begin to evaluate their specific workplace situation and determine what is the correct course of action for them by considering the following:

Whatever the case may be, it is recommended that, as an employer, you provide proper education relating to Covid-19 protocol, vaccinations, in general, and the rights of employees to refuse a vaccine. All the while, continuing to practice safe exposure control to prevent the spread of the virus, remove barriers which might pressure reporting to work when sick and make it easy for employees to receive inoculations to fend off COVID-19, even if not mandated.

Employees should have one individual or department who is responsible and accountable for compliance around a mandatory vaccine program and its processes. This is especially critical if the employment at the chapter houses is managed locally. This is a complex issue to effectively navigate and the local management may not be as familiar with all of the inherent risks of this matter.

Given the fast-evolving nature of the question, it is crucial for employers to monitor new laws and guidance from federal and state authorities. Employers should weigh the legal exposure and other risks associated with any mandatory vaccination program, and assess whether the alternative of voluntary vaccination may be a better option based on the nature and needs of your business.

We have seen a dramatic increase in claims arising out of frozen pipes over the last two years. Frozen pipes can present an invisible threat – one that you might not recognize until the weather starts to warm. By then, the water damage can be significant and costly. Fortunately, keeping your home warmer, at a consistent temperature, and better insulated can help protect your pipes from freezing this winter.

Which Pipes Are Most at Risk?

Pipes that are most exposed to the elements, including those outdoors and along the exterior walls of your home, likely need extra protection during winter months. These include the following:

Before winter:

During winter:

Why is a Frozen Pipe a Concern?

When water begins to freeze, it expands. This can cause both plastic and metal pipes to burst, possibly leading to significant water damage to your home.

What Do You Do if You Have a Frozen Pipe?

How to Help Prevent Frozen Pipes
We have created a printable infographic with these reminders for your use.

In addition, make sure you complete MJ’s Winter Weather Checklist prior to the onset of winter weather. More detailed tips to manage the risk of frozen pipes is available here.

September 2021: Topics include COVID-19 (claims), fall semester, operating in the new normal, severe weather & crisis management.

At the beginning of each academic year, we email out a resource for chapter officers and advisors. Click here for the 2021 version.

FAQs: Commercial Auto Insurance – Sara and Allison review the basics of the commercial automobile coverage and some related FAQs.

Event Planning: All About Contracts – Ruth and Allison are back to discuss the ins and outs about insurance contracts: what are contracts, why are they important, what to look for when dealing with contracts, and why all of this matters to our clients.

Property Basics – In this episode, Allison and Sara discuss the basics of the property coverage. Even if your chapter doesn’t have chapter house, there is still plenty of useful information for all chapter members in this episode.

Event Planning: All About Certificates – Adding to our ongoing series on event planning, Ruth and Allison discuss everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Certificates of Insurance. This is a must-listen for anyone that plans or oversees events for your chapter.

August 2021: Topics include COVID-19, fall semester, biometric risks, severe weather & transportation risks.

Updated COVID-19 guidance for sorority chapters and house corporations as we begin the Fall 2021 academic year.

When we think of making campus facilities more secure, we often chink of high-tech or expensive solutions such as using the latest in communication systems or installing an extensive network of surveillance cameras. Although these efforts do deter crime and arc worth the expense, says Denise Swen, dean of Middlefield Campus at Foothill College in California, many of the efforts to make campus facilities more secure are relatively low cost and low tech.

During her recent online seminar “Including Safety and Security in Campus Facilities Planning,” Swett outlined how to make new and existing facilities more resistant to crime, including the following low-tech options:

Faculty and student training

Students have long been experts at circumventing the safety and security hardware that campuses install in residence halls, Swett noted. They prop doors open, ignore alarms, and lend one another their IDs and/or security swipe cards. As a result, training is key in making the most of equipment.

On Swen’s campus, trainers conduct five-minute meetings in classrooms. The training focuses on the positives of staying safe, rather than on scaring students with potential dangers. (Swen said she is happy to share the script her campus uses in these five-minute classroom appearances. Please email her at swettdenise@jhda.edu to request a copy.)

Landscaping

Something as seemingly simple as landscaping can impact facilities security, Swett noted. A bougainvillea border underneath a bank of windows, for example, serves a security function. The flowering shrub’s tangle of thorns deters potential criminals from accessing the building through the windows. Low-to-the-ground hedges and trees with their lower branches pruned away also enhance security: they keep windows from being obscured and don’t afford potential criminals places to hide.

Landscaping that offers full outdoor view~ also deters potential criminals. On Swett ‘s campus, for example, a grouping of tables in an outdoor spot affords a view in all directions, making it harder for a potential criminal to surprise anyone sitting there or commit a crime without being observed by someone else in the area. In contrast, another campus has a path winding through a garden of tall bamboo plants: although the garden is lovely, people on the path cannot see other people there until they’re in very close range.

Maintenance

Well-maintained campuses send the message “We don’t want you here” to potential criminals, Swett said. In contrast, poor maintenance sends the message, accurately or not, that the campus is “unsecured, ignored, and overlooked”- in other words, a good place to get away with crime.

Signage

Clear, well-designed signage can also deter crime. Signs should be easy to read at night and should not use confusing jargon or acronyms. Campus maps that are current and note the locations of emergency call boxes are helpful to both potential crime victims and first responders.

Addressing windows and doors

Among the top safety modifications included in the report released after the Virginia Tech shootings in 2006 were recommendations to install the following:

• solid doors

• window coverings

• doors without handle~ or bars that can be chained together

Swett noted that among the students locked into classrooms for safety reasons during the Virginia Tech shooting, all survived. Having a solid door, or at least a door with windows that can be covered by curtains or a shade, increases the safety of being locked into a room because an assailant can’t see if anyone’s inside.

Many double door sets can be chained together by an attacker because each door has a handle. If such doors can’t be replaced, at least one of the handles can be removed as an alternate solution, Swett said.

Which approaches should your campus take?

To determine the deterrents that will work for your campus, Swett recommended the following steps:

What’s the deal with kids at the chapter house/premises? – In this episode we discuss MJ’s position on kids, including many different possible scenarios and how the insurance program would respond.