Wondering how to manage employee safety and sick leave during the coronavirus pandemic? You should. Employers are obligated to protect their workers from communicable diseases and should follow the CDC’s recommendations, including:
- Encouraging employees with respiratory illness to stay home
- Be prepared to separate sick employees
- Routinely clean frequently touched surfaces
- Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions
Social distancing should also be considered.
Business owners and managers should also be familiar with FMLA regulations for those taking time off to care for family members, FLSA for instances of remote work, workers compensation law for those exposed to a communicable disease on the job and OSHA standards applicable to Covid-19 in the workplace.
Source: National Law Review, March 10, 2020. Link. Some of these actions require communication with employees regarding their health and the HIPAA Privacy Rule must be considered. Employers must not rely on protected health information obtained from their health plan. “If an employee with Covid-19 submits a request for leave along with the results of his/her virus screening, the HIPAA Privacy Rule would NOT come into play. Why? Because the information was voluntarily provided to the employer by the employee for employment purposes entirely unrelated to the employer’s health plan activities. This information was provided to the employer not to the health plan. Once in the possession of the employer, the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not per se impose any obligation to maintain the employee’s information confidentially. However, regardless of good intentions, do not take this as a license to disclose this information to other employees.”