Joe Gross, employment specialist at Benesch in Cleveland, Ohio, says: ’It's not an outbreak, it's a scare. And because it's a scare, people are reacting.’ Fellow employment specialist Victor Geraci of Fisher & Phillips said: ‘There is confusion, and because there is a group of people who would normally look to law firms on workplace safety issues or protection of employee safety, they're doing so now.’ 

Old health laws

Antiquated health laws, written in 1953, are part of the problem as they do not give protocols for handling potential epidemics, according to Katharine Van Tassel, director of the Public Health Law School at the University of Akron. Reed Smith has set up a 20-lawyer ‘Global Ebola Task Force’, led by Patrick Bradley, a commercial litigator. He specialised in aviation. Many ebola-related issues  are about the use of planes in and out of affected countries, and the duties of airlines towards passengers. Sources : Crain’s Cleveland Business and ABA