Duty of Care in a Perilous Age

Walsworth travel and employment law partner, Laurie Sherwood, was quoted by Risk and Insurance, discussing how employers could preempt liability risks when their employees travel abroad. Now, more than ever, employers must make their best efforts to guarantee the safety of their employees and dependents in foreign jurisdictions.

The lack of specific legislation on employers’ duties to guarantee the safety of employees sent abroad could make litigation more likely. An employee who suffers an injury abroad has few alternatives but to seek recourse through the courts by alleging that the employer was negligent towards its duty of care obligations. Sherwood recommends that employers conduct a thorough assessment for all stages of a trip to identify all foreseeable risks, and disclose these risks to their traveling employees. “There is no duty to warn of unforeseeable risks,” she says. “On the other end of the spectrum, there is generally no legal duty to warn of obvious risks.”

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