Fears of a coronavirus pandemic are growing by the day, but employers looking to limit the chances of an outbreak in their workplaces could face a tricky task of balancing safety with the risk of stigma and discrimination.
The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce recently distributed a notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that warned against companies making determinations of risk among employees based on race or country of origin.
Instead, CDC recommendations focused in part on people already exhibiting symptoms, including actively encouraging sick employees to stay home and separating sick employees from others.
Employers will have wide latitude in sending employees home who seem to be ill if the CDC declares the COVID-19 virus a pandemic, according to Alicia J. Samolis, a partner at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, and the head of its employment and labor practice.
As of March 3, the CDC had not declared a pandemic. But Samolis was advising clients that they could still send someone home – without pay if they are hourly workers and have exhausted state-allowed sick leave – with the caveat that there is some risk of an employment discrimination lawsuit because the worker could argue they are being treated as if they had a disability.
“If an employee comes to work exhibiting symptoms of this illness, the employer is well within their rights to send them home and ... without pay,” assuming they have no sick leave remaining, she said.
But employers should not ask to take their employees’ temperatures, she said. Even with the declaration of a pandemic, that is only allowed if a “severe” outbreak is declared locally. Even then, she said, it may violate people’s rights.
Samolis and business organizations say the emergence of the coronavirus in Rhode Island has raised numerous questions for local employers.
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber, said employers should immediately review their sick leave policies and try to be flexible with employees.
In addition, they should communicate with their workers the plan in the event of a local outbreak. They may want to ask that deliveries be made outside a business location to minimize outside visits and “secure the perimeter,” White said.
If a business can use remote technologies, test those before the need is imminent. “Don’t wait until it’s necessary,” she said.
In some sectors, such as manufacturing and health care, working remotely isn’t possible.
Elizabeth Sarro, administrator of Bethany Home of Rhode Island Inc. in Providence, one of the state’s oldest nursing homes, said she was creating a new schedule that would allow her to cross-train staff members to accommodate absences.
Her greatest concern is not that the virus would infiltrate the 32-bed facility, but that “my staff is going to be quarantined in the community and I won’t have anyone to take care of the residents,” Sarro said.
She’s already had a maintenance employee call out because his son socialized with one of the students who went on the St. Raphael Academy trip, which included a stay in Italy.
Several people on that trip have since either tested positive for the virus or have shown symptoms.
“[The maintenance employee] called and said, ‘We don’t know if [his son has] been exposed,’ ” Sarro said. “I said OK. We know how fragile these people are.”
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
