As COVID-19 infections begin to spike more widely across the United States and within many communities in Washington, ports are wondering what a safe return to the workspace looks like—and what legal considerations there are regarding port offices and the pandemic. WPPA Counsel Les Reardanz and Frank Chmelik lead an in-depth look at what ports need to know about the legal (and business) concerns around office space and COVID-19.

The presentation centered on what ports need to know about how to handle their at-risk employees, employees who may not be at risk but who may be worried about returning to a shared office space, and employees who may not want to wear a mask at work. It also covered a myriad of legal questions around leave, furloughs, Union rules, and more.

In today’s conversation:

·       Best practices in creating policies addressing shared office space during the pandemic

·       Considerations for at-risk and other employees with special situations

·       Ways to codify telework on a go-forward basis

Do you need more resources on economic recovery, legal and compliance, internal port operations or health and safety related to the COVID-19 crisis? You can find today’s presentation, along with all previous presentations and information from Tuesday Roundtable speakers, on our COVID-19 response page for ports: https://www.washingtonports.org/covid19

You can listen to the whole meeting here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0zk68idrk2brqby/2020-06-30_RoundtableRecording.mp4?dl=0

Do you have ideas for future topics we could cover in our Tuesday Roundtables? Email your ideas to Washington.ports@washingtonports.org