Many employers may be carefully watching the rise in COVID-19 cases and the return of mask mandates nationally, but employers can breathe a sigh of relief because California’s highest state court has recently held that employers cannot be held liable for “take home COVID.”

What is “take home COVID?” Well, take home COVID-19 is where an employee catches COVID-19 at work and infects their household. Surely, some employers were not even aware of the possibility of such liability, especially because employers have never been held liable for employees catching any airborne respiratory virus.

In a recent California Supreme Court case, Robert Kuciemba was working for Victory Woodwork, a San Francisco furniture and construction company, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At home, Mr. Kuciemba and his wife Corby Kuciemba practiced social distancing and only left their home for essentials. The Kuciembas believe Robert was exposed to the COVID-19 virus while working at Victory Woodworks and that his wife Corby subsequently contracted COVID-19 from him. As a result, Corby developed severe COVID-19 symptoms, was hospitalized, and required a respirator to breathe. The Kuciembas then filed a lawsuit against Victory Woodworks claiming that Victory Woodworks violated the federal, state, and municipal regulations, failed to protect its employees, and subsequently caused Corby’s severe COVID-19 infection.

One of the issues discussed by the California Supreme Court was whether or not Victory Woodworks, as the employer, owes a duty of care to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to an employee’s household and considered several factors. First, the Court held that it is foreseeable that an employee exposed to COVID-19 while at work can make a household member sick. Second, the Court conceded that moral blame can be put on the employer because the employer has greater knowledge and control in preventing COVID-19 spread. However, the Court made clear that the negative impact such liability would have on the defendant and the community would be too great. In other words, there would be too many lawsuits that would be too costly for employers and the courts would be flooded – clearly, after three years, we can all agree that COVID-19 spreads easily and is not easily prevented.

Employers beware that you should still continue to implement best practices such as basic hand washing, disinfecting and cleanliness in the work area, and requesting employees who feel ill stay home. However, the California courts are clear that in the case of COVID-19, which is currently making headlines nationally, employers are not liable for employees contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to their household.