COVID-19 Updates for Employers
Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
issued revisions to its COVID-19 pandemic questions and answers.
The guidance addresses potential employment discrimination issues
associated with returning laid off or furloughed employees to
the workplace.
The EEOC repeats its earlier position allowing employers to
take employee temperatures, ask questions, and otherwise try
to keep symptomatic persons out of the workplace. Return-to-work
scenarios based on such preventative measures will be permitted
with individual employee identity and privacy safeguards in place.
Employers may also require employees to wear personal protective
equipment such as masks, but the EEOC notes that such requirements
may result in accommodation requests based on disability such
as allergies, or religious objections. While such requests must
be considered, the EEOC’s classification of COVID-19 as
a direct threat to employee health may mean that any such accommodation
requirements will be limited. If this issue occurs, please contact
your labor attorney for advice on how to proceed.
The guidance does not yet address issues that
may be crucial to returning employees to work such as:
- Should
employers return less vulnerable workers first?
- Can employers
require COVID-19 testing of asymptomatic persons once such
testing becomes widely available? If so, how often can such
tests be administered?
- Can employers implement different terms and
conditions of work and return to work for employees who have
testing evidence of COVID-19 antibodies and some presumed degree
of immunity?
Future guidance from the EEOC will likely address these and
other legal concerns.
Future guidance from the EEOC will likely address these and
other legal concerns.
Additionally, as part of the CARES Act, all states were required
to implement employer notification provisions in order to receive
federal unemployment insurance funds. Effective April 16, the
South Carolina Department of Employment & Workforce (SCDEW)
has required employers to provide employees with a new notice about unemployment benefits upon separation of employment or
a decrease in working hours. Employers must provide the notice
to employees informing them that:
- Unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are available to workers
who are unemployed and who meet the requirements of South Carolina’s
UI eligibility laws;
- Employees may file a UI claim if they are
separated from employment or their work hours are reduced;
- Employees
will need to provide DEW with their full legal name, Social
Security Number, and authorization to work if the worker is
not a US citizen or resident in order to process their claim;
and
- Employees may
visit the Department of Employment and Workforce’s
(DEW) website at dew.sc.gov or call DEW at 1-866-831-1724 for
assistance or more information.
Employers may provide this newly required notice by hard copy
in-person or via mail, or electronically via email or text message.
Though not clear from the information provided by SCDEW, this
notification is presumably only required for employees who are
separated due to COVID-19-related issues and may be eligible
for unemployment, not employees terminated for cause.
Lastly,
as the state begins a gradual reopening, many employers are faced
with the issue of employees who would rather continue receiving
unemployment benefits than return to work. It appears that SCDEW
is attempting to facilitate the process for employers to bring
employees back to work.
According to the agency, individuals who
turn down offers of suitable work are not eligible for UI benefits
during that week. All employers should already be aware that
employees may be entitled to paid leave benefits under the Families
First Corona Virus Response Act or company policy.
A company’s best defense against
the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state
law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed
all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation,
benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions.
The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization
with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance
with the latest state and federal mandates.
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Paul Hilton Human Resources Consulting works with our clients to insure that all required documentation is correct and sufficient to successfully defend against a claim to any unemployment compensation commission. |
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Paul Hilton is a certified Human Resources Consultant, located in
Columbia, SC.
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