U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney is weighing a "first-of-its-kind" lawsuit that could potentially hold an employer responsible for a workers' spouse contracting COVID-19. The case is Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, and was originally filed in the California State Superior Court but has been moved to U.S. District Court.
Many Americans have filed suit against their employers claiming that unsafe workplaces and practices during the pandemic caused the worker to contract the COVID-19 virus, but Corby Kuciemba and her husband Robert Kuciemba are going further, claiming that Mr. Kuciemba's employer, Victory Woodworks, was responsible for the spread of the illness to the Kuciemba household.
As far as we know, this is the first time someone claimed that if you have Covid, and live with someone who has an essential job, you can sue the employer for potentially spreading the COVID-19 illness into a household.
Chesney indicated that she will likely throw the case out because the claim is "wholly dependent" upon Mr. Kuciemba contracting the disease at work. Since the initial injury was addressed by Kuciemba's workers' compensation insurance, he is precluded from suing the company directly.
The Kuciembas allege that Victory Woodworks violated local and federal COVID-19 safety guidelines when it moved workers from one worksite to another during the pandemic outbreak and failed to take basic safety precautions. As a result, Kuciemba claims he contracted the virus and unknowingly brought it home and infected his wife. According to the complaint, both Mr. and Mrs. Kuciemba were ill enough to require extended hospital stays and suffer severe after-effects.
Plaintiffs counsel noted that even if the working partner did not get sick with the COVID-19 virus, making the workers' compensation claim irrelevant, the wife would still have an independent claim for her severe illness.
The complaint alleges that the couple can show that they took extreme precautions to avoid COVID-19 exposure. If the case proceeds, the Kuciembas will have to prove that Robert contracted the virus at his workplace. This standard of proof is difficult to prove in any circumstance, specifically in COVID-19 cases.
Editor's Note: Plaintiffs counsel drew an analogy to a worker who inadvertently brings home significant amounts of asbestos fibers from a workplace, making his partner sick, a situation in which California law holds the employer responsible. Counsel noted that there is no material difference between a spouse bringing home a virus instead of a fiber.