During the current Special Session, the Virginia General Assembly has been considering civil liability protections to ensure that businesses are able to reopen safely without having to live in fear of unfair COVID-19 lawsuits.
Unfortunately, the Senate version (Senate Bill 5067) stalled on the Senate floor when stakeholders couldn’t come to an agreement on a compromise proposal. House Bill 5074 as it came out of committee is not beneficial to business owners and NFIB opposes it. It’s before the full House of Delegates for consideration.
The biggest bone of contention focused on how to ensure employers were complying with federal, state and local laws and regulations related to COVID-19 workplace safety without creating a compliance standard that would be impossible for employers to achieve.
Unless there’s breakthrough between the interested parties, it’s likely NFIB and the rest of the business community will continue to work on the issue in anticipation of the 2021 General Assembly Session which begins in January.
