Barrage of guidance may cause confusion as companies implement safety measures

COVID-19 safety guidance has been coming from the government, associations, consultants and employee groups to help employers during the pandemic. But the guidance is mixed, experts warn, and has created a balancing act for employers trying to operate and protect their workers. 

“Retailers are operating on thin resource margins, moving very fast to meet customer needs … and being hit from the public safety side and all of the federal, state and local orders that are coming into play,” said Cressinda Schlag, an associate in the Austin, Texas, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. “It’s a bit of a balancing game.”

While some retailers are doing a “great job” — by limiting customers, creating one-way aisles, directing customers where to stand, placing shields and even Plexiglas boxes around cashiers and baggers, and providing masks and gloves — others have been “slower to implement protections,” said Celeste Monforton, a lecturer in the department of health and human performance at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

“When the dust settles, I think there will be a push to have permanent rulemaking either at the federal level or more broadly at the state level to require companies to put into place some kind of planning around pandemics and infectious disease,” Ms. Schlag said. “Having those ahead of time might have helped with managing situations like this.”