The CDC Issues Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The U.S. Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) has published an Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to plan and respond to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), outlining how employers can best prepare and respond to the outbreak.FN1 The Interim Guidance cautions employers to determine the risk of Coronavirus without using race or country of origin to make such determination, and advises employers to take the following precautions:
Encourage sick employees, especially those with symptoms of acute respiratory illness, to stay home (even without a doctor’s note) until they are without symptoms for at least 24 hours (without the need for symptom-reducing medication);
Send employees home if they appear to show symptoms of acute respiratory illness;
Consider imposing a 14-day quarantine for: employees recently returning from a high-risk area; employees showing symptoms of acute respiratory illness; and/or those who have had close contact with a person with a confirmed Coronavirus infection;
Emphasize healthy practices, such as washing hands for at least 20 seconds using soap and water, or cleaning hands with hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol;
Advise employees to notify their supervisor if an employee’s family member is sick at home with Coronavirus, or if they have been exposed to the disease; and
If an employee is confirmed to have the Coronavirus, employers should inform the rest of their workforce of possible exposure to the virus, while maintaining the confidentiality of an employee’s health information pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Further, in preparation for a possible Coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the CDC recommends that employers create an infections disease outbreak plan, which could include:
Identifying possible work-related exposure and health risks to employees, including reviewing standards established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”); FN2
Identifying essential business functions, essential jobs or roles, and critical elements within a company’s supply chains required to maintain business operations and planning for interruptions;
Planning for school closures, monitoring travel guidance and attendance at large work-related meetings or events; and
Establishing flexible working arrangement, including remote work and staggered shifts.
Takeaway
Employers should review existing leave, accommodation, and flexible working arrangement policies to ensure their consistency with public health recommendations and compliance with existing state and federal workplace laws. To ease the fear and workplace interruptions caused by news about the Coronavirus, employers are encouraged to:
1. Appoint a department or single individual as the point of contact to handle Coronavirus inquiries;
2. Provide updated information to employees about the symptoms of COVID-19;
3. Educate supervisors on the company’s prevention plans or work arrangement policies;
4. Assure policies and practices are compliant with OSHA, HIPAA’s Privacy Rule; and other state and existing federal and state laws; and
5. Consider whether issues need to be addressed with any union-represented employees’ collective bargaining representative, or whether any provisions in the company’s collective bargaining agreements may be affected.FN3
Footnotes:
FN1: CDC Interim Guidance, February 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/guidance-business-response.html
FN2: OSHA Standards and Directives related to
worker exposure to novel coronavirus, COVID-19, https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/standards.html
FN3: Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Responding
to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Update on Best Practices for Employers,
National Law Review (March 4, 2020), https://www.natlawreview.com/article/responding-to-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-update-best-practices-employers