October 2021: Topics include Leak Protection, water damage, COVID-19, & wellness rules overview.

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.

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

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

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.

Risky Activities – In this episode we discuss what risky activities are, why chapters should be concerned about risky activities, and some easy alternative activities.

Claims Corner: The Basics – We discuss what is a claim, what to do in the event of a claim, and more.

Special Episode: Housing Forum 2020 Recap – In this episode we recap this year’s MJ Housing Forum, the premier gathering for sorority housing professionals and volunteers.

Event Planning: All About Liquor Liability – In this episode we discuss liquor liability.

Emotional Support Animals: An Evolving Approach – This episode contains an excerpt from our Housing Forum on the Road series discussing various approaches to Emotional Support Animals.

The organization was setting up for a charity event when two members of the organization were pushing a student employee on a 25 foot tallescope ladder. The two women pushing the ladder ran over an extension cord on the floor which caused the ladder to topple over and the student employee to fall 25 feet to the ground. The student employee sustained a traumatic brain injury as well as severe injuries to her face, jaw, and teeth. 

A lawsuit was filed naming the volunteers, organization and the charity. The University was immune from tort liability because it is both a governmental entity and because it provided workers’ compensation benefits to the injured student employee. It was defense counsel’s opinion that a jury would likely place 25% liability on each volunteer/member, 25% liability on the organization and 25% liability on the University. Even though a jury may have apportioned liability to the University, they would not have had to make any payments. It was also believed that the two members would have been immune from liability based on the state’s Volunteer Service Acts.  

The University agreed to waive their subrogation lien of $1,500,000 which aided in the lawsuit settling for $850,000 during mediation. It is unknown if the charity paid a settlement.