Posted on 11/09/2022 2:32:31 PM PST by nickcarraway
The company I work for has weathered the pandemic okay. We’re a 100% in person, small U.S. manufacturing company. I’m HR, finance, many other things, and sometimes reception. Because of that, I’m in a unique position to know the vaccination status of all visitors (due to a Covid screening form they complete) and some details about health status for employees and their family members.
Until recently, all employees have been fully vaccinated (to the best of my knowledge). There is no “vaccines required” policy; any mention of that in the past has been shot down by management. It’s been hypothetical given everyone’s vaccination status, plus the owners aren’t keen on mandates. There is no longer a masking requirement at work, though people are free to wear them.
Recently we hired someone who is not Covid-vaccinated, according to their visitor info form. I shared that info with the person conducting the interview, now their direct manager, since he’d be meeting with him in the conference room. The new employee is working in a large, open manufacturing area and is almost always working at a bench on his own, so keeping distanced wasn’t a problem. However, work stations just got moved around. He’s now at a work station that directly faces the work station of someone who lives with a medically vulnerable family member, who is at risk of serious illness from even minor infections. When they are both at their work stations, they face each other, six feet apart.
Ethically, to me, the employee with the vulnerable family member needs to know they are working every day with someone who is unvaccinated, so that they can choose to mask up, change their work station placement, etc. But that would be disclosing medical info about a coworker, which normally I wouldn’t do. Though it shouldn’t figure into the decision about “the right thing to do,” complicating matters, the new guy’s role is one with some overlap of the existing employee’s role and the existing employee had their hackles up about the position even existing, felt threatened, and gave the new guy the cold shoulder for a couple of days.
As HR, and personally, I’m very cautious about Covid: still masking in public and avoiding crowds. At work I’m the person who reminds people about eye protection, safety gloves, etc. if I observe someone doing something that requires that. I’m lightly teased about about my focus on caution and safety. So though I’m willing to use my capital as needed to address this issue, I also suspect the owners and the manager involved might not share my level of concern over it (particularly given that they moved the one unvaccinated person to face — all day — the one person they know has an at-risk family member).
My initial impulse was to simply talk to the employee with the vulnerable family member, let him decide how he wants to proceed (by masking up, asking to move his work station, etc.). I could be vague about who, exactly, is not vaccinated … but he will likely see through that. Also, there may be other employees with similarly at-risk family members who I’m not aware of.
Any suggestions how I should proceed in this situation?
Agggh.
Morally, I’d argue that you should be able to tell the person with the at-risk family member that he’s facing an unvaxxed person all day long so he can take additional precautions if he wants to (like masking if he’s not been doing that).
But legally, you can’t share employees’ confidential medical info, which the EEOC says includes vaccination status.
Ideally, everyone in your workplace would assume that they don’t know other people’s vax status and just take whatever precautions they’d take if they knew for sure that someone was unvaxxed. And really, this is what everyone should be doing in situations where they don’t know the people around them very well. For some people, that won’t mean changing anything — they’ve decided being vaccinated themselves is enough. For other people, it will mean masking and/or other precautions.
However, if in the past your employees were told everyone there was vaccinated, you’ve got people operating with out-of-date information. Given that, it makes sense to remind everyone that the company doesn’t require vaccination and doesn’t share people’s vaccination status, and so if they are concerned about protecting themselves or high-risk family members, the company supports them in taking safety precautions like masking and adding more distance between work stations.
You could also ask the employee with the vulnerable family member if he’d prefer a work station with more distance around it — as a general safety precaution, not one specific to the person he’s near right now. If he’s not masking all day, that’s a good idea anyway since vaccination — while highly effective at preventing serious disease and death — doesn’t fully prevent infection, so his family member’s risk isn’t just from the unvaccinated new guy. In fact, this is worth offering to all employees if you can since, as you note, you don’t know who else might have at-risk loved ones they’d like to protect (or be at risk themselves).
Since 100% of the employees are vaxed why do they have to worry about getting or transmitting the virus? LOL
Oh wait - the vax and the boosters don’t stop you from getting covid or transmitting it?? LOL
Message to historians reading FR 50 years from now: There is something called sarcasm. Look it up in an old dictionary. Whenever you see LOL or /s after a post you just might misinterpret what the post is actually saying if you’re not careful. Even if you don’t see LOL or /sarcasm you should be aware of it.
just MYOB and things will go fine.
The hr person should announce this in an all employee zoom meeting.
This STUPID KAREN is most likely in support of Amnesty for COVID Tyranny. Sorry Karen, after suing you into oblivion I will enjoy watching you suffer the rest of your miserable life.
I used to work in Payroll/HR, I never understood the way my co-workers seemed to have trouble in keeping their mouths shut about personal information. If I learned something about someone, and believe me I knew a great deal, it got dropped into a deep dark hole that mostly even I did not look at.
You have a legal and moral obligation to keep your mouth shut.
It is your job.
@ 22 - For The Win
How is it anyone else’s business. Why can’t people mind their own business anymore? Who sits around worrying about what shot someone else had?
If a person still believes the vaccine will prevent someone from catching covid they’re beyond saving.
@ 41 - yeah, it has been this way from the beginning. The vaxxed (probably - because they know on some level the products are useless) have always been fearful of getting it and dying from a pure-blood.
Truly vexed me at the beginning. They fell for the crap that it worked to protect them, but went moonbat guano crazy at people who didn’t fall for this crap.
I’m so happy that only one person at my new workplace is vaccinated. Not that we ever really talk about it. In the last few weeks weeks a head cold has been going around. I was the first to get it. Started out with a sore throught, the next day I had a runny nose, and then after that I coughed for a couple of days. I think I might be a super spreader, because I know of two other employees who have gone through the same thing since I fell ill. I guess it could be covid, but nobody is concerned enough to think twice about it much less get tested.
Another HR Stalinist.
She can ESAD!
Most likely this HR person was recently released from a four year indoctrination center.
Its HIPAA and it doesn’t apply to employers.
So no violation there.
“Has anyone claimed ever that the jab prevents people from transmitting the WuFlu?”
The CDC did back in the early days. Along with you won’t get Covid.
Sounds like a HIPPA violation to me.
Actually, HIPAA (it's not a hippo!) only applies to certain "covered entities":
Health Plans, including health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, and certain government programs that pay for health care, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Most Health Care Providers — those that conduct certain business electronically, such as electronically billing your health insurance — including most doctors, clinics, hospitals, psychologists, chiropractors, nursing homes, pharmacies, and dentists.
Health Care Clearinghouses — entities that process nonstandard health information they receive from another entity into a standard (i.e., standard electronic format or data content), or vice versa.
Many organizations that have health information about you do not have to follow these laws. Examples of organizations that do not have to follow the Privacy and Security Rules include: life insurers, employers, workers compensation carriers, many schools and school districts, many state agencies like child protective service agencies, many law enforcement agencies, many municipal offices.
Little busybody.🙄
A control freak Karen freaking out because they can’t control everyone.
It’s none of her business and she has no right to share other’s personal medical information.
It’s none of their business.
Would you tell them if they had AIDS/HIV or Hep C?
If the vax worked, then the vaxed people would have nothing to worry about from the unvaxed.
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