Apparently working from home was a lot scarier than actually contracting COVID-19.
Who could have seen this coming? Well, pretty much everyone.
Back in March, the law firm of HWL Ebsworth, an Australian firm with over 850 attorneys and 1,250 employees total, refused to close their offices amid the growing pandemic. As Roll On Friday reported at the time, an insider at the firm said, “I suspect that one of the reasons the firm is reluctant to let people work from home is the lack of proper IT infrastructure.” The firm tried to publicly push the blame onto mental health concerns, saying of working from home that “social isolation and operating within less than optimal working conditions” had the “potential to increase stress levels.” I guess the firm doesn’t think forced potential exposure to a deadly virus is stressful at all. [Insert all the side eye.]
The firm even went so far as to say they wouldn’t firm “blindly” follow other firms shutting their offices “like a lemming.” Whatever the opposite of compassion is, that’s what HWL Ebsworth is showing for their employees that had to trudge to the office daily when plenty of giant law firms are showing just how straightforward a WFH policy can be in the legal industry.
In any event, the coronavirus has once again shown that it doesn’t care how badly you wish for it to go away; if you do stupid things (looking at you Florida), there will be consequences. As Roll On Friday reports, there’s been a COVID-19 outbreak linked to the firm that has public health officials concerned.
On 6 July, an HWL employee tested positive for coronavirus and a floor of the firm’s Melbourne office was closed. Staff were sent home as the premises were deep-cleaned, and two more employees were confirmed as having been infected.
[Managing partner Juan] Martinez told staff they were expected to return the following Monday “barring any issues”, according to the Australian Financial Review. He said “it is not an outbreak that originated from our office, and it didn’t arise as a result of our operating practices”.
But then three more cases were detected, bringing the total to six so far, and Victoria health authorities publicly named the firm’s Melbourne office as a ‘key outbreak’ site.
This forced the firm’s hand, and they announced employees could work from home if they wanted. But that might have been too little, too late. Employees say they were left in the dark as the infections spread, and now the firm is under investigation:
But a number of employees claimed they were kept in the dark by the firm about the Covid cases, and only found out about the infections after the health chief’s announcement, it was reported. Worksafe Victoria, the statutory body which assesses workplace safety in the region, confirmed it is now investigating the firm.
It’s a shame it took people actually getting sick for the firm to make the smart decision.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).