Posted on 10/16/2014 10:46:19 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
How should employers respond when they learn that an employee is planning a trip to West Africa to visit family? What if other employees refuse to come to work because they fear that the returning employee may have been exposed to Ebola Virus Disease? How can employers prepare in advance for such situations?
Based on extensive news media coverage of the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and the recent transmission of the virus in the United States, many employers are scrambling to answer these questions. The right response depends on several factors and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, employers can get out in front of these issues and reduce potential liability by taking some proactive steps:
• Communicating with Employees and Customers. Even if the domestic spread of Ebola is contained, many employers will still face questions from employees and customers about how the company is handling this situation. To help reassure workers, companies should prepare managers to: (1) give employees and customers pertinent information from the CDC and other health organizations; (2) explain steps the company is taking to protect its employees, customers, and the general public; and (3) reaffirm that the company takes health and safety very seriously and will take appropriate, lawful action to protect them. Companies should also consider appointing a manager to develop a protocol for handling employee complaints and concerns.
• Asking Employees About Travel Plans. If an employee travels to West Africa, or is otherwise potentially exposed to Ebola, employers can and should ask certain questions. For example, they may inquire about the employee’s travel plans, whether he had contact with anyone who was exposed to Ebola, and whether the employee is experiencing any flu-like symptoms....
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
And for every person that says YES to any of the questions, buy them 2 tickets to the next Presidential Fund Raiser.
Our 3-year-old grandson has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon (he has some weird virus apparently that nobody seems to be able to figure out yet - please pray for him!) and when my daughter made his appointment, they told her about new precautions the office is taking due to Ebola. This is a family practice in a midwestern state that has had no Ebola cases so far. Wow.
What about HIPPA Laws?................
Isn’t this exactly why mandatory travel restrictions to and from the ebola countries are needed immediately? At the very least a strict supervised quarantine for travelers arriving from those countries.
Looks like HIPPA, ADA and other rules are going to clash here quite a bit. Man, I regret not going to law school.
Niiiiice. I guess Ebola is here to stay. Until we are all dead.
That’s because we are likely being lied to, just like with that Enterovirus D68, and there probably are cases all over the place.
There are more around, but our government don't want to advertise the problem.
Nobody gets out alive anyhow, now do they?
Five to one, baby, one in five.
We need to quit calling it the Ebola epidemic or the HN whatever the hell it is killing kids all over America, and start calling with EVERY thread, political speech and news article “The Democrats Biological Warfare on America”. Please help.
Obola seems to piss them off quite a bit and it’s simple and one word.
Never mind the ADA.
Where the f*** is OSHA??
A nurse gets hepatitis, they are on it like white on rice. Fines, injunctions, lawsuits, without limit.
2 nurses (with more to come) get Ebola? No biggie.
Way back in OSHA’s early days I was tasked to read their entire directive on building safety glass and report on its likely effects on our design/build firm.
Among the affected products were glass jalousie doors which by this directive were required to be of tempered glass. There were a total of three accidents cited nation wide. One running child cut her finger and IIRC two drunks falling through with multiple non-life threatening cuts.
Opened my eyes that day to an overlord government agency’s reach.
If you are an employer you are always wrong.
Rush said today that BO is considering sending National Guard troops to Africa. Has anyone seen that anywhere? This is nuts.
In hospitals with no staff leaking the news?
In a secret in a government hospital?
Bleeding out on the street?
Not much news leaked from Nazi concentration camps or Soviet Gulags until they were closed-down. Are you saying our bureaucrats are worse than theirs were?
Obama May Send National Guard to Liberia to Fight Ebola: Sources
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