Raphael Bohne
Research expert covering professional services
COVID-19 pandemic-related labor lawsuits - statistics & facts
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, certain types of labor lawsuits have risen sharply in the United States, and others, such as vaccine-related lawsuits, are a relatively new phenomenon. This is a direct result of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown measures that were put in place and the effects that this had on working conditions, business closures, workplace safety, and job losses. There was a total of almost 25,000 COVID-19 related labor lawsuits as of March 2022 as the aftershocks following the first few waves of the pandemic have continued to reveal themselves. These lawsuits vary from state-to-state, as does public opinion on shopping, dining out, and mandatory vaccinations. These are factors that affect others’ ability to work in safety and have tested the willpower of some employees to work in below satisfactory conditions as they have made plans to leave.
Vaccine-related lawsuits
Following the vaccine rollout in the United States, attitudes towards this procedure have varied across the country. As of September 2022, New York was the state with the most vaccine-related labor lawsuits and government and healthcare were the industries with the most vaccine-related lawsuits against employers. Although it is not clear as to what the specifics of these lawsuits were, New York remains as a state with one of the highest vaccination uptakes in the country and, as a result, one of the states with the lowest numbers of vaccine-preventable COVID-19 deaths.The end of the pandemic?
Although President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be over in the United States in September 2022, the economic and social effects of the spread of the coronavirus have continued to be felt. In the first week of September, case numbers reached approximately 470,000 and between August and September in the same year, 376 new COVID-19 related employment lawsuits were filed in the United States. California continues to be a state heavily affected by such lawsuits and is the state with the highest number of litigation cases since March 2020 and as of March 2022.
