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).
Academic... the vax doesn’t work, Karen.
The author sounds likes a stereotypical fat annoying, self-righteous, busy-body Karen.
New Employee: “You mean you’re not? I thought everyone had enough sense to avoid that vaccine... it doesn’t even do anything, does it?”
OK Karen,
How about snitching on the homosexual with aids. Mind your own business since the “vaccines” don’t stop transmission anyway,
Agreed. The new employee, will then own the company and can fire the busy body Karen.
My employer required unvaxed employees to where masks while letting vaxed employees not. Dumb azzes. Unvaxed were required to test weekly for about 6 months.
Now none of it matters except the vaxed are scared of dying now. Lol. Maybe I will get a bigger raise if a bunch do kick it.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Showing the true ignorance of Human Resources staff. "I know their shot status because they told me."
The screening form employers used was an absolute joke. Anyone could have put anything in there - and they did.
Divulging Personal Health Information (PHI) is a tort in all fifty states. Not a good idea.
HIPAA only applies to health care professionals and health care providers.
If the HR department at Wal Mart discloses PHI it’s a tort and not a HIPAA violation.
Vaccination provides no reduction in disease transmission.
Do some research, karen.
Niw that is black humor.
This pure blood is proud to be retired so he doesn’t have to worry about this anymore.
See tag.
It’s a HIPPA violation if you do.
No. I wish it were because then Vax mandates, related social scoring and tracing and even obama care would all be violations. Whatever Hippa is supposed to protect got substantially weakened during the cold virus scam.
I was thinking Karen should post a spread sheet with all employees and a check list of any vaccines, diseases or risky behavior. May even add listings for bad breath and if they microwave fish at lunchtime.
Should they tell the jabbed that their God given immune system is totally compromised, now?
Which employee will outlive the other?
Hmmmmmm.
Tell the guy about the FNG not being vaxxed and watch the fun begin.
Thanks for the clarification.
No. People are supposed to be secure in their persons, papers, etc. Private medical information should remain PRIVATE.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.