Employment Issues to Watch Out for in 2021

Stacy Eickhoff, senior vice president for Risk Strategies Company.

As a business owner, you have a wide range of relationships to manage, and how you manage these relationships can make or break your business.

One of the most important relationships you have is the one between you and your employees. In a direct to consumer business driven by sales, we tend to overlook our internal relationships and focus externally on our customer’s needs. Therefore, it is not uncommon for internal processes and procedures to fall by the wayside and become less of a priority.

While 2020 was a very difficult year for everyone, retail businesses were particularly affected. The impact of Covid-19 on revenue and the complexity of the local, state, and federal guidelines have forced businesses to make significant changes, including reductions in workforce via layoffs or furloughs, remote working environments, redesign of office space, and showrooms, and employee privacy/leave issues.

A USA Today article from January 5, 2021, reported that COVID-19 sparked more than 1,000 workplace-related lawsuits in 2020. It was also reported that 690 of these suits were filed due to layoffs or firings, and nearly 25 percent were brought about by employees due to safety related concerns.

Allegations cited poor sanitation, lack of social distancing protocols, or inadequate personal protective equipment, which contributed to employees getting sick or dying from COVID-19; employer retaliation after an objection to unsafe working conditions or workplace exposure to individuals displaying COVID-19 symptoms; disability discrimination by failing to accommodate remote working or inconsistency on who is allowed to work remotely; improper notice prior to layoffs or furloughs; and discrimination related to laying off or furloughing employees.

On January 21, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order titled “Protecting Worker Health and Safety.” The order seeks to reorient worker safety guidelines and enforcement at the Labor Department’s workplace safety division, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This new order requires OSHA to update Covid-19 safety recommendations for businesses within the next two weeks.

It is no wonder that Elizabeth Owens Bille, an employment attorney and the Senior Vice President of Workplace Culture at EVERFI, states in her blog post for The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that the top 6 Workplace

Practices trends in 2021 are expected to be the following:

1. New responsibilities for HR and Compliance

2. Broader focus on employee well-being

3. Sustained action to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion

4. Continuation of remote work

5. Increased compliance complexity

6. Business pressure to elevate workplace practices

All of these are drivers to keeping and maintaining good employee/employer relations. Regular communication with your employees is important and having clear and consistently applied HR practices is critical. Most small businesses do not have a dedicated Human Resources person or staff; therefore, those duties often fall on the owner or office manager. During times of uncertainty, it is crucial to be stringent with file documentation and consistent with the application of your internal policies. Many employers are taking this time to both round out internal protocols and update policies to more current standards.

Employment-Related Practices Insurance (EPLI) can protect employers in the event that an employee brings allegations of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, or wrongful termination. Most employment practice policies include HR resources, management, and employee training, and often legal guidance on how to deal with employment-related issues. The costs of these policies are often offset by the additional resources they provide. Additional resources may be available from your insurance carrier’s loss control department, your insurance broker, and/or your state and local governments. Risk Strategies Company is a full-service insurance brokerage. Contact Stacy Eickhoff with any questions. ❚