What to Consider When Screening Employees for COVID-19

New York—While much of the country remains under lockdown, there are a handful of states allowing businesses to reopen right now, with more set to follow on May 1.

For businesses reopening now, or looking to do so in the next month, there is much to consider.

They need to worry about, among other issues, how to clean and keep employees and customers safe, and the local laws regarding how many people can be let in the store at one time.

There’s also this: how to screen staff for COVID-19 without violating any employment laws and what to do with the information if an employee tests positive.

On Wednesday, an attorney who specializes in employment litigation helped clear up those issues.

Tom McCormick, a partner in the Columbus, Ohio office of law firm Vorys, was part of a five-person webinar presented Wednesday afternoon by Centurion titled “Navigating the Key COVID-19 Legal Issues Impacting Jewelers.”

Tiffany Stevens, president, CEO and general counsel of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, moderated the panel.

McCormick outlined what employers can, and cannot, ask of employees when they return to the store following the shutdown.

According to McCormick, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say employers can:
—Take employees’ temperature at their place of work;
—Ask if they’ve been tested for COVID-19; and
—Do targeted screening of employees, but, McCormick cautioned, only if there is a credible belief based on objective evidence that they might have the coronavirus, like a hacking, persistent cough.

“Otherwise, you should not be targeting any employees,” he said, noting all EEOC guidance on workplace discrimination continues to apply.

Employers cannot discriminate against employees based on age, race, sex, disability, etc.

McCormick said employers also can ask their employees if they’ve come in contact with anyone who has, or has had, COVID-19, but they cannot ask them specifically if family members have contracted or are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.

He also suggested employers consider having their employees fill out a wellness certificate when they arrive to work stating they took their temperature before they left the house that day and are otherwise symptom-free.

One of the retailers on the panel, Michael Richards, vice president of Underwood Jewelers, which operates three stores in Florida, said the company has purchased forehead thermometers for testing.

If employers discover one of their staff has COVID-19, McCormick said they can: