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Legal Liability
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sleep-deprived
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 6
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 20:44:38
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Hi All,
We just found out this past week that we have bed bugs. Ugh.
I feel obligated to tell my work and also my daughter's nursery school, but I'm worried that I could be held liable if they are found in those places. Worse yet, in someone else's home.How have others handled this?
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sweetblood
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 29
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 20:54:20
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i would initially feel obligated but what happens if others who already had them suddenly decide the you conveniently started the problem. just a thought. don't know that many people think this way but you never know.
i'm not really saying not to address it but its jst something to think about, i guess
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Just itching to get rid of them
member
Joined: May '09
Posts: 124
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 21:10:46
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My own feeling is take the appropriate precautions as listed in the FAQS section as best you can, and leave it at that. You don't have to tell everyone you know. This is a bb epidemic. Anybody going out in public: restaurants, the movies, church, the library, the shopping mall, public transportation etc. is taking some small chance that they are exposed to bbs. Bbs are Hell enough. Your first task is to try to get rid of them. You don't know, for example, how they will react at your job. In fact, you don't even know if others there may already have them and may have given them to you.
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sleep-deprived
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 6
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 21:47:52
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I can't disagree with either of you- I really don't want to be a social leper, but I have 2 concerns. The hell I've been through the past week I would HATE to spread to other unsuspecting people. We've probably had them for 2 to 3 months, so although taking precautions now, I'm not sure what happened before. Also - what if we treat, but then bring them back home because work is infested?
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sweetblood
newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 29
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 21:57:40
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sometimes I wonder if everyone has them, lol.
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Everyone does not have them.
One problem with telling work is that we have seen cases where people were blamed or even fired when bed bugs were found in the workplace --even though it is usually not possible to prove that person infested the workplace. (Even though it's possible bed bugs came from other units in the building, or another emplyee brought them in, and does not even know they have the problem at home.)
On the other hand, if you got them from work OR brought them to work, you need the workplace to be inspected and treated if necessary. It's a tricky situation.
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sleep-deprived
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 6
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 22:17:51
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My PCO mentioned that he would inform my work anonymously. It sounded like a good idea at first, but..... if only my area is infested, it would be pretty obvious, and if my company decides not to follow through with an inspection I won't have much recourse in making sure they do so.
No bugs - if we've had this problem for several months without knowing it, are the odds of car/workplace/school infestations high?
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Re: cars/workplace I think it's really hard to say. There's probably an increased risk with bigger or more long-standing infestations.
Personal habits play a role; think about someone who habitually comes home at 1 am and places a purse or briefcase on the bed. Or someone who stores their shoe collection under the bed. Or someone who is repeatedly exposed and does not know the source.
Luck also surely plays a role.
It's hard for anyone to speak about these things with any certainty, but I would not panic. Get good treatment and take precautions per the travel faqs (which explain how to avoid spreading bed bugs): http://bedbugger.com/faqs/travel/
I like the idea of PCOs notifying the workplace anonymously. It would be cheaper for them to have an inspection (human or reputable canine team) than to do that and have evry employee inspected.
I am not a lawyer but would not be surprised to see people legally challenging employers who blame or fire them for allegedly bringing bed bugs in. It really seems like I would be hard to prove.
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Sorry for typos -- writing on a phone. Should read "it would be hard to prove."
Not "I."Another thing: bed bugs found in your seating area could have been brought in by you, but remember, other ways they get into offices: parcels, visitors, other office workers, cleaning staff, maintenance.
Is it possible you brought them home FROM work, or do you have some other obvious known source?
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sleep-deprived
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 6
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 22:50:20
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I had a neighbor drop in twice last week (pre-BB-knowledge) to check on my cat. She wouldn't have gone upstairs, where our infestation is supposedly localized, but would have walked across our living room carpet. We also spent an evening with friends about a month ago. We brought a diaper bag and got our daughter ready for bed while there.
Just thinking about the people we may have infected could drive me crazy. These 2 people are friends of ours, but I'm still on the fence about telling them. I think it's the right thing to do, but I hate to think of the fall-out.
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sleep-deprived
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 6
Posted 7 months ago
Fri Aug 7 2009 22:52:13
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We suspect I brought them home on a business trip. Ironic, I'm probably going through this because of them and yet I'm afraid to tell them.
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,259
Posted 7 months ago
Sat Aug 8 2009 0:33:41
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I'm only still up because I just watched my beloved Red Sox lose to the Yankees (again) in a marathon even for them game, so I'll try to make this brief.
I had bed bugs for at least two months before I realized it. I have two jobs. Also in that time, I visited the homes of several friends who live out of town, and I attended conferences and stayed in hotel rooms with another handful of friends.
Despite all of that, I did not bring bed bugs to work or to the homes of my friends.
I told all of my friends. I did not tell work in any official way. Part of that was because I react very clearly to bed bug bites, and I had thermal treatment. Since I knew my apartment was bug free, I knew if there were bugs at work, and they were biting me, I'd know immediately.
I'm not sure how I got that lucky, but I did.
Does that mean that you absolutely didn't bring bugs anywhere? No.
But I did want to tell you that despite even sharing a bed at one of the conferences, nobody who was around me and/or my luggage got them from me.
There's a lot we still don't understand about bed bugs, so I doubt anyone could even begin to explain why sometimes you get hitch hikers and sometimes you don't.
I understand your impulse to want to prevent other people from being infested. On the other hand, in this economy, I would be very cautious about telling people if you think it puts your job in jeopardy. Anonymous might be the way to go, but only you can assess the situation in your workplace and whether or not you fear it might be traced to you and whether that would put your job at risk.
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Just itching to get rid of them
member
Joined: May '09
Posts: 124
Posted 7 months ago
Sat Aug 8 2009 8:33:47
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sleep-deprived, I would say the main message is take care of yourself and your family. These are hard times, and the work world can be cruel. The main theme in your writing is your feelings of guilt. You feel guilty that someone might have gotten your bugs before you knew about them etc. Guilt is a negative feeling, closely connected sometimes to shame. Often we feel shame that we have bbs. Neither feeling is warranted, but both are natural. And without getting too psychoanalytical, some of us are more prone to those feelings than others because of incidents in our upbringing. The point is guilt may be an unnecessary emotion here. It doesn't help you focus on your major task to rid your home of bbs.
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