EEOC Updates Guidance on Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace
Contact Clara (C.B.) Burns, Charles C. High, Jr., Michael D. McQueen and Gilbert L. Sanchez -
March 20, 2020
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Yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance on Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC updated its guidance in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic as it relates to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Here are the highlights:
1. COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic meets the direct threat standard under CDC and public health authorities’ guidance;
2. Employers may ask employees who report feeling ill at work, or who call in sick, questions about their symptoms to determine if they have or may have COVID-19. These symptoms currently include, chills, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat;
3. Employers may measure employees' body temperature;
4. An employer may screen job applicants for symptoms of COVID-19 after making a conditional job offer, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same type of job;
5. Employers may delay the start date of an applicant who has COVID-19 or symptoms associate with it; and
6. Because CDC guidance states that an individual who has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with it cannot safely enter the workforce, an employer may withdraw a job offer to an applicant infected with COVID-19 if the applicant would need to start immediately.
As with all medical information, the fact that an employee had a fever or other symptoms would be subject to ADA’s confidentiality requirements. Further, with respect to the current COVID-19 pandemic, employers may follow the advice of the CDC and state/local public health authorities regarding information needed to permit an employee’s return to the workplace after visiting a specified location, whether for business or leisure reasons.
If you have any questions about the EEOC’s updated guidance, please feel free to contact Kemp Smith’s Labor and Employment Department at 915-533-4424. Also, please join us next Tuesday March 24th from 10:00-11:00 AM MST for our firm’s free webinar – What Employers Need to Know about the New Employment Laws under the Families First Coronavirus Response.
1. COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic meets the direct threat standard under CDC and public health authorities’ guidance;
2. Employers may ask employees who report feeling ill at work, or who call in sick, questions about their symptoms to determine if they have or may have COVID-19. These symptoms currently include, chills, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat;
3. Employers may measure employees' body temperature;
4. An employer may screen job applicants for symptoms of COVID-19 after making a conditional job offer, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same type of job;
5. Employers may delay the start date of an applicant who has COVID-19 or symptoms associate with it; and
6. Because CDC guidance states that an individual who has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with it cannot safely enter the workforce, an employer may withdraw a job offer to an applicant infected with COVID-19 if the applicant would need to start immediately.
As with all medical information, the fact that an employee had a fever or other symptoms would be subject to ADA’s confidentiality requirements. Further, with respect to the current COVID-19 pandemic, employers may follow the advice of the CDC and state/local public health authorities regarding information needed to permit an employee’s return to the workplace after visiting a specified location, whether for business or leisure reasons.
If you have any questions about the EEOC’s updated guidance, please feel free to contact Kemp Smith’s Labor and Employment Department at 915-533-4424. Also, please join us next Tuesday March 24th from 10:00-11:00 AM MST for our firm’s free webinar – What Employers Need to Know about the New Employment Laws under the Families First Coronavirus Response.
