MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Covid-19 has a lot of people asking questions about what is and is not allowed at their place of employment. Lawyers who specialize in labor issues are looking at how the pandemic can affect a workplace.
Because COVID-19 has now been labeled a pandemic of the highest level, employers need to be aware of specific rules that are now applicable under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidance for employers to address what can legally be asked of employees during a pandemic.
Gregory Rouchell, an attorney with Adams and Reese law firm, put together a quick reference summary of the EEOC’s answers to common questions during a pandemic.
- May an employer send employees home if they display influenza-like symptoms during a pandemic? Yes.
- During a pandemic, how much information may an employer request from employees who report feeling ill at work or who call in sick? Employers may ask employees if they are experiencing influenza-like symptoms, such as fever or chills and a cough or sore throat. Employee confidentiality must be maintained.
- During a pandemic, may an employer take its employees’ temperatures to determine whether they have a fever? Yes
- When an employee returns from travel during a pandemic, must an employer wait until the employee develops influenza symptoms to ask questions about exposure to pandemic influenza during the trip? No.
- During a pandemic, may an employer ask employees who do not have influenza symptoms to disclose whether they have a medical condition that the CDC says could make them especially vulnerable to influenza complications? Generally, no.
- May an employer encourage employees to telework (i.e., work from an alternative location such as home) as an infection-control strategy during a pandemic? Yes.
- During a pandemic, may an employer require its employees to wear personal protective equipment (e.g., face masks, gloves, or gowns) designed to reduce the transmission of pandemic infection? Yes. But be prepared to provide accommodations, if needed, e.g., non-latex gloves.
- May an employer require all of its employees to take the influenza vaccine regardless of their medical conditions or their religious beliefs during a pandemic? No, but you can encourage your employees to get vaccinated.
- During a pandemic, must an employer continue to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with known disabilities that are unrelated to the pandemic, barring undue hardship? Yes.
- During a pandemic, may an employer ask an employee why he or she has been absent from work if the employer suspects it is for a medical reason? Yes.
When Local 24 News asked Rouchell if an employer can force an employer to stay home for 14 days if they were on a cruise or traveled internationally, Rouchell said yes.
“Employers must ensure that they provide a safe work environment for their employees. This is reasonable and legal given the circumstances,” said Rouchell.
Roachell also says when it comes to domestic travel, an employer can force an employee to report where they have been. Rouchell also said if an employee has been to a domestic coronavirus "hot spot." an employer has the right to force an employee to stay home from work if the employer is concerned about travel. Rouchell says there don't not have to be a written policy on domestic travel for an employer to ask an employee to stay home.
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Coronavirus in Context:
The majority of people who have coronavirus will get better without any long-term effects, according to an Oregon doctor. About 80% of cases tend to be mild. In these cases, symptoms diminish over five to seven days, although people are still capable of transmitting the disease. But there are many people with a higher risk of having a more severe disease if they are diagnosed with coronavirus, including those with heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other vascular disease problems.
Also, most children who get it have mild symptoms.
WHO officials said March 9 that of about 80,000 people who have been sickened by COVID-19 in China, more than 70% have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.
Patients are typically released when they test negative twice for the virus within 24 hours, meaning they’re no longer carrying the virus, although some countries may be using a slightly different definition, that may include when people have no more respiratory symptoms or a clear CT scan.
The World Health Organization said it could take considerably longer for people to be “recovered,” depending on the severity of disease.
Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's emergencies chief, said it can take up to six weeks for people to fully recover from COVID-19 infections, which could include pneumonia and other respiratory problems in serious cases. He said the numbers of reported patients have not always been systematically provided to World Health Organization although the U.N. health agency is asking every country with cases for further information.
To put the coronavirus numbers in context, millions of Americans get the flu every single year and there are thousands of flu deaths annually.
Since October 2019, the CDC estimates around 32 million Americans have gotten the flu. That’s one in every 10 Americans.