David Miller, Shareholder with Bryant Miller Olive in Fort Lauderdale.

A woman with Asian features wearing a face mask is attacked in the New York subway by a young man who is videoed screaming "diseased b—–." A 59-year-old Asian man is kicked from behind and knocked down on the street, also in New York, by a teen who allegedly yelled "f—ing Chinese coronavirus" as he attacked. A pupil of Chinese heritage in Miami-Dade County is teased by her classmates as "eating bats," reducing her to tears.

The above were widely reported in legitimate media, except the last, which I know of from a witness. They are not workplace anecdotes, but here are a couple from my own personal knowledge:

Search Twitter for "Lysol coworker" and you'll get a never-ending stream of people complaining that they should spray their work area, that they want to spray their coughing co-worker, or that they have themselves been sprayed by a rampaging colleague with an aerosol. Employees demand that their boss send another employee home because that person's child attends a large school where a worker's teen child might have been exposed—not infected, just exposed —to COVID-19 on a cruise.

Now, think about that last one: a worker on a ship carrying maybe 5,000 people has the virus; a teen was on that ship for a few days—no idea whether the teen was ever within 100 yards of the infected person; the teen's mother works in a school with thousands of students and teachers; your employee's child attends that school—no idea whether the child was ever within 100 yards of the school worker; and your employee's co-workers demand that the employee be sent home because they fear that employee could infect them.

I'm no epidemiologist, but five degrees of separation—with a couple of those separations involving a one-in-thousands chance of close contact—barely even qualifies for the Kevin Bacon game.

What's going on here? Panic. What does that mean for employers? Bring it under control or bring on the lawyers, because you could end up in court.

First, and obviously, harassing or singling out employees of Asian heritage can expose the employer to a discrimination lawsuit. National origin is a protected status under the federal and state civil rights acts and under many if not all local civil rights ordinances. The employer is liable for that kind of harassment by co-workers if the employer knows or should know that it is occurring and does not stop it. This kind of liability can arise even if only a single supervisor is or should be aware and does not step in.

The harassment does not have to be sustained—a single instance could result in liability if it were bad enough.

This kind of behavior can also result in liability for infliction of emotional distress and similar claims. Spraying someone with a disinfectant could be assault, even if no actual injury occurs. Indiscriminate spraying of chemicals into the air also might exacerbate an employee's pre-existing respiratory condition or allergies, which can also result in employer liability.

Of more overarching concern, however, is tolerating the demonization of employees by other employees. Just because "coughing" is not a protected status under the civil rights laws doesn't mean it's OK to persecute someone or for an employer to permit it.

Once started down this slippery slope, there's no logical end to it. I have heard someone declare that they don't want to associate with someone because that person's relative attends a program that the first person thinks is not as sanitary as they'd like. If these two are your employees and the relative is, for example, disabled and the place is where they're cared for, then you have a possible ADA associational claim against you. The claim would not arise from coronavirus, but from the second employee's association with their disabled relative—this is a far slide down that slope, but it can happen just that easily.

Questions of liability aside, employers would do well to remind employees in such situations of two things.

First, the harassers today could easily be themselves sick—and harassed—tomorrow. This virus shoe is going to be on the other foot of a lot of people.

Second, we all are going to come out the other side of this, sooner rather than later, we hope. Meanness, harassment and hurt feelings now will not be forgotten later.

Employers who act to stop or prevent this sort of bad action now will reap the rewards later. Those who don't will reap something else.

Attorney David C. Miller is board-certified in labor and employment law by the Florida Bar. He is a shareholder in the Miami offices of Bryant Miller Olive and represents employers. Before becoming a lawyer, Miller was a newspaper editor and reporter for more than a decade.