Employer Response to COVID-19 in the Workplace

Once workplaces have reopened and employees have returned to work (and have begun interacting with the public), more coronavirus infections might result. Employers must take certain actions to protect exposed employees, ensure that infected employees isolate and quarantine, and meet government reporting requirements in the event of an outbreak. Questions abound as to when an exposed employee may return to work, and whether additional precautions must be taken. The California Department of Public Health has published guidelines with links to government agencies' requirements for employers to manage coronavirus in the workplace. The guidance applies to an outbreak as defined below, but also is useful for individual workers who test positive.

Outbreak Management in the Workplace

"This guidance," according to the state, "is not intended for use in managing or preventing outbreaks in healthcare, congregate living settings, or other workplaces where the California Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) standard (title 8 section 5119) applies." Here are questions other employers might have in navigating coronavirus in the workplace.

How should employers should prepare for identifying cases of COVID-19?

Designate a coronavirus coordinator responsible for implementing the company's virus prevention and disinfection plan it established when it re-opened. The coordinator also should be responsible for educating workers on COVID-19 symptoms, company policies regarding quarantine when experiencing symptoms or following a positive test, and company benefits if they are impacted by the virus. The coordinator must be familiar with government guidance on health and safety requirements and return-to-work timelines for affected employees.

To whom should employers communicate information about known or suspected coronavirus outbreaks?

Employers are required to notify the local health department when there is a known or suspected outbreak in their workplace. An outbreak is defined as three or more laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in employees from different households within a two-week period. The health department where the workplace is located must be notified first. After that, the employer must notify the health departments where the affected employees live, if they are different. The department advising the workplace will direct the employer how to handle the outbreak. Typically, that department will request a roster of all workers, and information related to the workers who are infected.

Employers should notify union representatives, if applicable, and notify the employers of contracted and temporary workers of the outbreak.

The employer need not confirm that the coronavirus cases originated in the workplace before notifying the local health department. Although reporting an outbreak is required, the guidelines encourage employers also to contact that department about any positive cases in the workplace regardless of how the virus was contracted.

What about reporting workplace COVID-19 cases to Cal/OSHA?

According to the state's Department of Public Health, employers are required to report to the local Cal/OSHA district office "any serious injury, illness or death occurring in any place of employment" immediately but not longer than 8 hours after the employer knows. For COVID-19 this includes in patient hospitalizations and deaths among workers." Reporting is required even if work relatedness is unknown. See the subsequent section, OSHA Requirements — Recording and Reporting COVID-19.

To control further spread, how do employers identify additional virus cases among workers and their close contacts?

It's a good idea to test all workers following an outbreak. If such widespread testing is not feasible, available or not recommended by the local health department, employers should consider contact tracing and quarantining some or all workers. The local health department will work with the employer to recommend ways to control spread. See the next section, Contact-Tracing Investigations.

Should employers temporarily suspend operations due to a COVID-19 infection in the workplace? Businesses may elect to shut down facilities, operations or processes when a case of COVID-19 or an outbreak occurs. Factors determining whether a closure or partial closure is required include the size of the workforce, the number of people affected, the vulnerability of consumers and workers who could be affected, and the disease spread in the community at large.

The local health department and Cal/OSHA have the authority to shut down businesses, partially or completely, while the infection or outbreak is investigated or managed.

How should employers notify and provide instruction to its workers?

Employers must maintain the confidentiality of workers infected or exposed to the virus. The public health guidance requires some employees to be notified, and Assembly Bill 685 expands notification requirements to all workers in the same workplace as the infected individual. To learn more about employee notification requirements, see the subsection Cal/OSHA Imposes New Notice and Reporting Obligations for COVID-19 Workplace Exposure in the subsequent section OSHA Requirements — Recording and Reporting COVID-19.

Close contacts of the infected worker should be instructed about how to get tested, monitor symptoms and quarantine at home. The Department of Public Health notes that in some outbreaks, workers who were never symptomatic and had no close contact with any of the employees who tested positive may continue to work as long as the employer has implemented all control measures as recommended by public health authorities, including the local health department, Cal/OSHA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), and the employee doesn't develop symptoms of the virus.

How do employers determine when it's appropriate for cases and contacts of cases to return to work?

Employers should consult with the local health department and the most recent CDC guidance to find out when a confirmed case or a close contact of a confirmed case may return to work. Note that the CDC defines "close contact" as "Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated."

Minimum criteria for return to work apply to these categories of cases following either a positive test or close contact with an infected worker:

Symptomatic Positive: At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared, and at least 24 hours have passed since the last fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and symptoms have improved.

Asymptomatic Positive: At least 10 days have passed since the date of the first positive COVID-19 test. If symptoms develop, standards for Symptomatic Positive apply.

Symptomatic Negative: Workers who have symptoms but have tested negative should use the same criteria for return to work as Symptomatic Positive workers.

Asymptomatic Negative: Workers are advised to quarantine at home for 14 days after the last known close contact with the infected worker. Even after testing negative, symptoms can develop within 14 days after exposure. The local health department may allow earlier return to work for an employee in a critical infrastructure industry, especially if no alternate staff can perform the same role.

Symptomatic Untested: Testing is recommended, but if the worker cannot be tested, the same criteria for Symptomatic Positive workers apply.

Asymptomatic Untested: Workers should be quarantined at home for 14 days after the last known close contact with the infected employee. Testing is recommended, but the local health department may allow the employee to continue working if he or she is in a critical infrastructure industry, especially if no alternate staff can perform the same role. Workers who develop symptoms while in quarantine should use the same return-to-work criteria as a Symptomatic Positive worker.

What sanitation measures should be taken after workers with COVID-19 have been at the workplace?

Workers should not enter the work areas of infected employees until those spaces have been cleaned and disinfected using products approved by the EPA for COVID-19. Enhanced cleaning and disinfection of work areas should be ongoing, including identifying and regularly disinfecting high-touch surfaces throughout the workplace, such as door knobs, handrails, elevator buttons, etc.

Workers shouldn't share headsets or other equipment that comes in contact with the mouth, nose or face. Workers responsible for cleaning should be trained in the safe use of cleaners and disinfectants, and provided necessary protective equipment to do so.

How can employers stay current on new and updated guidance for their specific industries?

The California Department of Public Health website includes links to the landing pages of various governmental agencies that provide specific guidance for specific industries.