The EEOC updated its employer guidance for handling common employment issues that arise during pandemics to specifically address issues related to COVID-19. The new guidance provide useful answers to many frequently asked questions employers have during this difficult time including:
- How much information may an employer request from an employee who calls in sick, in order to protect the rest of its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic
- When may an ADA-covered employer take the body temperature of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Does the ADA allow employers to require employees to stay home if they have symptoms of the COVID-19?
- When employees return to work, does the ADA allow employers to require doctors’ notes certifying their fitness for duty?
- If an employer is hiring, may it screen applicants for symptoms of COVID-19?
- May an employer take an applicant’s temperature as part of a post-offer, pre-employment medical exam?
- May an employer delay the start date of an applicant who has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with it?
- May an employer withdraw a job offer when it needs the applicant to start immediately but the individual has COVID-19 or symptoms of it?
You can check out the EEOC’s answers to each of these questions here.