The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Michigan
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Amendment of the MIOSHA Act, 1974 PA 154, adding sec. 85 (MCL 408.1085); tie-barred to HB 6030 (2020 PA 236), HB 6032 (2020 PA 238) and HB 6101 (2020 PA 239)
- Issued
- 2020-10-22 Oct. 22, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-10-22 (immediate effect); applies retroactively to an exposure to COVID-19 that occurs after March 1, 2020 (sec. 85(3)) (read as 2020-10-22)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Oct. 22, 2020 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding dutyOperating condition
- Addressees
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: Michigan DUT-MI
Operative words
an employer is not liable under this act for an employee's exposure to COVID-19 if the employer was operating in compliance with all federal, state, and local statutes, rules, and regulations, executive orders, and agency orders related to COVID-19 that had not been denied legal effect at the time of the exposure.
Penalty
Loss of immunity: exposure to liability under the MIOSHA Act for a non-compliant employer
What it required
Made an employer's immunity from MIOSHA Act liability for an employee's COVID-19 exposure depend on the employer's operation 'in compliance with all federal, state, and local statutes, rules, and regulations, executive orders, and agency orders related to COVID-19,' with tolerance only for 'an isolated, de minimis deviation from strict compliance... unrelated to the employee's exposure,' retroactive to exposures after March 1, 2020; the Legislature thereby declared compliance with every governmental COVID-19 directive the standard of an employer's conduct for the whole claim period.
Retrieval noteCompanion to 2020 PA 236 (Ex. MI-056), whose sec. 5 states the identical condition for all COVID-19 claims ('A person who acts in compliance with all federal, state, and local statutes, rules, regulations, executive orders, and agency orders related to COVID-19 that had not been denied legal effect at the time of the conduct or risk that allegedly caused harm is immune from liability for a COVID-19 claim'), and to 2020 PA 238 (Ex. MI-057). The phrase 'that had not been denied legal effect at the time' was enacted twenty days after In re Certified Questions: the Legislature keyed the standard to the orders as they stood when the conduct occurred, not to their later judicial fate. 2020 PA 236 was itself repealed prospectively by 2022 PA 139 effective July 1, 2023 (compiled-laws entry read on the official site; not saved).