{"id":286,"date":"2020-03-16T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T13:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/?p=286"},"modified":"2023-04-26T09:43:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T13:43:17","slug":"important-homework-for-companies-to-undertake-as-they-implement-coranavirus-home-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/2020\/03\/16\/important-homework-for-companies-to-undertake-as-they-implement-coranavirus-home-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Homework for Companies to Undertake as they Implement Coranavirus Home Working"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the coronavirus spreads, more companies are asking employees to work from home (or vice versa). A recent Wall Street Journal article<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> states that \u201c[n]early half of 158 U.S. businesses surveyed \u2026 in mid-February said they were implementing or expanding remote-work programs due to the epidemic.\u201d Politicians are actively encouraging remote work trend. A group of United States Senators, including Senators Reed and Whitehouse, have urged industry trade groups to expand alternative work options.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Businesses that are implementing or expanding remote work in response to the coronavirus\u2014and particularly those that may be asking non-exempt, temporary, or lower-skilled employees to work remotely for the first time\u2014may face challenges and issues that they have not previously had occasion to consider and plan for. \u00a0As businesses expand their network remotely by (e.g.) adding more licenses for employees to access resources outside of the office, they should also be vigilant in ensuring that those new connections are secure by updating policies and educating employees about best practices, especially in preventing any mishandling of their sensitive information.\u00a0 We highlight a few such challenges below.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cybersecurity<\/strong>. By now, the risks of data insecurity\u2014and the recent influx of governmental regulations concerning data privacy\u2014are well-known. But many businesses have built their cybersecurity plans and policies with the assumption that their workforce would be in the office. If a business wants to maintain compliance with the requirements imposed by law, its insurance company, or its customers\u2019 best interests, it may need to act fast to upgrade infrastructure or issue new policies. For example, employers may wish to consider whether to bar employees from using public Wi-Fi or other unsecured access points, which may be vulnerable to hackers attempting to access the company\u2019s information and data. Businesses also should be aware of the potential for their employee\u2019s mishandling of sensitive data either physically removed from the office or accessed on a shared network from a remote location.\u00a0 Employers should be proactive and establish policies and training to educate their employees about the risks associated with mishandling data and how to prevent it.\u00a0 Establish a policy\u2014or remind employees of the policy\u2014that employees should not transfer files between work and personal computers when working from home. Proactively list the software employees should be using and those that they should not.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New or different job responsibilities for remote workers. <\/strong>Employees that typically work in an office environment may have to provide progress reports more frequently or deliver different work products to their employer. Consider how these and other new demands of remote work interact with a business\u2019 job descriptions and labor contracts. Will non-exempt employees have to work longer or different hours, thereby requiring overtime pay? Consider installing time-clock software on remote workers\u2019 machines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Provision of adequate training and equipment. <\/strong>In recent years, many businesses have issued new employees laptops, phones or other devices that allow employees to work remotely. Businesses should consider whether their employees are fully equipped to perform their job requirements and whether the employer needs to chip in for disability-related accommodations that may not exist at home (such as accessible and assistive technology and specific devices). Employers may want to determine the extent to which they can mandate the use of personal devices (such as personal cell phones and computers\/laptops not issued by or subsidized by the employer) during remote work.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Workers\u2019 Compensation. <\/strong>The fact that an employee may be working remotely may not insulate a business from its liability if an employee injures him or herself while working. Businesses should consider implementing (or updating) remote working policies to manage such workers\u2019 compensation risks, such as outlining expectations for employees working from home, establishing guidelines for a home office setup, such as a designated working area and providing training regarding work-station setup and safety measures, as well as setting fixed work hours and rest periods that help in assessing whether an injury occurred while working.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our attorneys are working hard to stay ahead and to respond to your questions and concerns as we continue to monitor the impact of the coronavirus, especially its impact to businesses throughout the Northeast Region.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Sarah Needleman, \u201cCoronavirus Keeps Workers at Home,\u201d Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> <em>See, e.g., <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.senate.gov\/news\/release\/us-senators-call-on-employers-to-offer-workers-flexibility-in-the-event-of-widespread-coronavirus-outbreak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>https:\/\/www.whitehouse.senate.gov\/news\/release\/us-senators-call-on-employers-to-offer-workers-flexibility-in-the-event-of-widespread-coronavirus-outbreak<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the coronavirus spreads, more companies are asking employees to work from home (or vice versa). A recent Wall Street Journal article[1] states that \u201c[n]early half of 158 U.S. businesses surveyed \u2026 in mid-February said they were implementing or expanding remote-work programs&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,122,32],"tags":[120,121,33,35],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-covid-19","category-cyber-security","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-cyber-security","tag-data-security"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apslaw.com\/its-your-business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}