Jennifer Barna, Senior Counsel in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management and Litigation practices, in the firm’s Newark office, was quoted in SHRM, in “What Should Employers Do When a Worker Tests Positive for COVID-19?” by Allen Smith.
Following is an excerpt:
Employers with workers who test positive for COVID-19 should follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including its guidelines on quarantining and isolation, to minimize safety and legal risks, even though the guidance is somewhat complex. …
Continue Screening
“It is a good idea for employers to continue asking screening questions when employees come to the workplace in order to show that the employer is doing what it can to ensure that employees who recently tested positive or who have symptoms do not come to the workplace,” said Jennifer Stefanick Barna, an attorney with Epstein Becker & Green in Newark, N.J.
In guidance, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that employers may ask all employees entering the workplace if they have been diagnosed with or tested for COVID-19.
“An employer may exclude those with COVID-19, or symptoms associated with COVID-19, from the workplace because … their presence would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others,” the guidance provides. “For those employees who are teleworking and are not physically interacting with co-workers or others—for example, customers—the employer would generally not be permitted to ask these questions.”