As coronavirus counts surge, it’s now more likely than ever that you’ll have to manage employees who test positive for COVID-19. Doing so is fraught with very real legal and compliance pitfalls.
Make one misstep and you could endanger patients and violate privacy and compensation laws. There is a way to follow all the needed guidelines once an employee tests positive for COVID. Use this action plan to take the steps you need to ensure you protect your practice and staff.
- Alert Employees: Inform other employees that someone in the practice has tested positive. Those who worked closely with the person must be notified.
- Protect Privacy: Do not disclose the employee’s name. Keep in mind that the infected worker may choose to tell their coworkers and disclose his/her identity.
- Disinfect Affected Areas: Sanitize and deep clean areas where the employee may have been. You can consider closing for a day or so to let any active virus die, but that may depend on your business needs.
- Stress Vigilance: Remind workers about proper and constant use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), handwashing, sanitizing, etc.
- Conduct Temperature Checks: Also point out that employees must continue to monitor their temperature every day prior to work.
- Isolate Symptomatic Staff: Staff who are showing any signs of illness should leave immediately. Advise them not to report to work until they have met your return to work criteria.
- Recommend Self-Isolation: When employees are not at work, you should encourage them to isolate as much as possible. Remind them that every time they go out or interact with people, they risk becoming infected and/or spreading the virus.
- Document Contamination: When you believe that the employee contracted the virus in the workplace, record the incident per OSHA guidelines.
- Confirm Sick Leave Laws: Check your state’s worker’s compensation laws as it pertains to COVID-19. Or individuals who do not have paid sick time, may be able to apply for unemployment for any weeks out of work. If you are subject to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), you will have to provide paid sick leave pursuant to the Act.
- Report FMLA Absence: For employers required to provide Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (those with 50 or more employees), this will count as an FMLA-covered absence. The proper paperwork (Notice of Rights/Responsibilities and Healthcare Certification Form) must be submitted within five business days. This applies to eligible employees, those who have worked more than 12 months in past 7 years and worked 1,250 hours in past 12 months. Employers can and should run FMLA concurrent with sick/vacation or worker’s comp.
- Provide Visual Reminders: To further educate employees, the CDC has numerous posters for displaying or distributing in workplaces.
If you are like most practices, you have a ton of additional employee-related compliance questions such as can you make employees use PTO if they miss work due to COVID-19, how high does an employee’s temperature need to be to send them home, and more. Get all your COVID-19 employment policy questions answered during the expert-led online training “Stop Practice Penalties, Comply with New COVID-19 Employment Laws,” by healthcare and employment attorney, Kelly Holden, Esq.
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