Photo of Veronica Rivas-Molloy

Veronica Rivas-Molloy can be reached at vrivas.molloy@joneswalker.com or 713.437.1830.

With hurricane season upon us, employers are justifiably concerned about the potential impact of a natural disaster on their business. A hurricane, natural disaster, or any other crisis in the workplace can bring a business to a screeching halt and devastate the lives of a business’s most valuable asset, its employees.

To minimize the impact of a natural disaster, employers should have plans in place before disaster strikes, including, for example, a crisis management plan, a communication plan, and a disaster response and recovery plan. These plans must take into account the effect a catastrophe may have on workers and include ways to help impacted employees return to work as soon as practical to ensure continued productivity at the workplace following a natural disaster. Any enacted plan should consider the application of relevant federal and state laws to ensure compliance and avoid any employment-related lawsuits or any agency enforcement action following a natural disaster.
Continue Reading Planning for a Catastrophe

We first published this article in the Louisiana Employment Law Letter the month after Hurricane Katrina. We republished it following last year’s catastrophic flooding in Louisiana and are publishing it again now in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, as we believe its advice is timeless and as cogent as ever in the aftermath of any