EEOC Updates Pandemic Preparedness Guidance

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued an update to the 2009 Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  This update incorporates new information to respond to current employer questions and to address its application to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It identifies established ADA principles that are relevant to questions frequently asked about workplace pandemic planning such as:
  • How much information may an employer request from an employee who calls in sick, in order to protect the rest of its workforce when an influenza pandemic appears imminent?
  • When may an ADA-covered employer take the body temperature of employees during a pandemic?
  • Does the ADA allow employers to require employees to stay home if they have symptoms of the pandemic influenza virus?
  • When employees return to work, does the ADA allow employers to require doctors’ notes certifying their fitness for duty?
Please click here to review the full EEOC Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act guidance.  The Association will continue to provide current coronavirus COVID-19 resources, links and best practices as it becomes available.