But the trend has not produced the anticipated flood of litigation. Had he been a corporate risk manager at the beginning of the 1990s, he also would have shuddered. When telecommuting became a trend, employers and insurers wondered if it would translate to a flood of contentious claims and litigation. And as more workers moved to virtual offices, companies took pains to make sure they didn't just plop a laptop on the dining room table, pull up a straight-backed chair and call it a work station. The biggest potential liability lies in the area of repetitive stress injuries, which health experts say can be prevented with ergonomically correct equipment.
Home safety is another important area.
And the basement may not be the best place for that home office. Not only might it be full of flammable and combustible materials, says Powers, but mold and mildew may trigger allergies. Employees and employers need to be sure their combined insurance policies will cover the equipment, fire damage and potential liability. Agreements between employers and employees need to spell out policies on working hours, breaks, productivity and overtime. To be sure, while lawyers and companies say they've not noticed any jump in liability claims related to telecommuting, they also concede there's been little research done on home-based workers as a distinct group, making it hard to make sweeping generalizations.