It is crucial for employers within the life sciences industry to understand how they should comply with state and federal regulations. Regarding these regulations, employers in the life sciences are also required to comply with federal agency guidelines from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Among the most critical guidelines, employers must draft and review policies concerning procedures for responding to and monitoring infections in the workplace, health certifications for visitors and employees, and the prevention of infection in the workplace.
As we concluded this series, we have hammered on the issues of teleworking and telemedicine, which have become increasingly common in this industry, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, in this post.
Teleworking and Telemedicine in the Life Sciences Industry
On the one hand, even with the resumption of on-site business operations after COVID-19, unrestricted face-to-face interaction is likely to remain the norm for some time. Like in most other industries, the workforce in the life sciences industry would be telecommunicating where practicable. This implies that while they should embrace teleworking and telecommuting for a while, life sciences industry employers must ensure that they have evolved with local, state, and federal guidelines and orders by revising their remote work policies accordingly.
In our blog post “The Basics and Fundamentals of the Life Sciences Industry,” we mentioned that as a highly-regulated field of life, the life sciences industry is marred with a dozen ethical issues and, consequently, significantly high in employee claims seeking to “blow the whistle” on allegedly unethical, criminal, and unlawful practices. Thus, employers must take proactive measures to ensure employees observe and adhere to ethical behavior while teleworking. Still, we also mentioned in our blog post “Trade Secret Protection & Restrictive Covenants in Life Sciences, that the life sciences industry is highly interconnected and, therefore, fosters outsourcing arrangements, joint ventures, and collaborations between facilities and organizations, which, consequently, imply that employees are in constant mobility. Accordingly, these organizations and companies must understand how to defend against trade secret theft claims and take the necessary precautions to protect their confidential information and trade secrets by complying with the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and the appropriate Uniform Trade Secrets Act of 1979 (UTSA) in their jurisdictions.
On the other hand, working remotely also implies that the life sciences industry workforce will continue using advanced technologies of communication, such as telemedicine platforms. Accordingly, pharmaceutical and healthcare industry employers must understand that employees who administer health services through telemedicine platforms are not exempt from workplace laws such as state and federal harassment and anti-discrimination regulations, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA).
This means that to avoid exposing themselves and employers to potential liabilities from clients, customers, and the public, employees providing healthcare services through telemedicine platforms must be provided with adequate and proper training on how to effectively and appropriately administer services through such platforms. Notably, the life sciences industry involves a lot to do with how medical devices, drugs, biotechnological products, and pharmaceuticals are developed, produced, distributed, and used. For this reason, any errors in administering patients with erroneous healthcare services or providing them with misleading information may expose employers and employees to liability.
With that, we have concluded our series on “Life Sciences Industry Guide for Labor and Employment.” We hope that as a life sciences employer, we have armed you with key information that puts you ahead of the game in the industry. As usual, we are just a call/email away if you need any legal advice or assistance.
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Always rising above the bar,
Isaac T.,
Legal Writer, Author, & Publisher.