Employers Duty of Care

Employer’s Duty of Care

Cillicia Houston

Dr. Henry Fulk

Law, Ethics and Corporate Governance

May 25, 2011

Employers have responsibilities for the health and safety of their employees. Both the employer and the employee have a common law duty of care to each other and to other employees. The Occupational Safety and Hazard Act of 1970 (OSH Act) was implemented to prevent workers from being killed or seriously harmed at work. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was introduced as a federal agency to manage safety and health standards by enforcing the general duty clause and by writing and enforcing detailed health and safety standards for each industry (Halbert, 162). As originally stated, both the employer and the employees have specifc duties under the OSH Act:

(a) Each employer --

  (1) shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;

(2) shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

29 USC 654 (b) Each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct.1

In addition, OSHA is a part of the United States Department of Labor; the issues of compensation must be discussed. In the video: Employer’s Duty of Care and Issues of Compensation, an injured employee is not able to keep up with the demand of free oil changes as offered by the auto dealership owner to drive potential car sales. When the owner questioned the reason for the work slowdown, the employee advised that he was doing a thorough job by checking the basic servicing issues, not just completing an oil change. The owner disagreed with the employee providing a thorough job and told him to get the oil changes done as quickly...