Human Resource Policies - FAQs:

• Where can I find a comprehensive set of questions and answers about workplace policies and practices during a flu outbreak?
• What should businesses do to prepare for a flu outbreak?
• May employers send employees home if they show symptoms of pandemic influenza? Can the employees be required to take sick leave? Do they have to be paid? May employers prevent employees from coming to work?
• Must an employer grant leave to an employee who is sick or who is caring for a family member that is sick?
• May an employer require an employee who is out sick with the flu to provide a doctor’s note, submit to a medical exam, or remain symptom-free for a specified amount of time before returning to work?
• Why should businesses have flexible leave policies or alternate work schedules during a flu outbreak?
• If I have a family member at home who is sick with novel H1N1 flu, should I go to work?
• During an flu pandemic, can a healthy employee refuse to come to work, travel, or perform other job duties because of a belief that by doing so, he or she would be at an increased risk of catching the flu?
• May employers change work hours/schedules to minimize contact between employees?
• In the event an organization bars employees from working from their current place of business and requires them to work at home, will employers have to pay those employees who are unable to work from home?
• Is an employer required by law to provide paid sick leave to employees who are out of work because they have pandemic influenza, have been exposed to a family member with influenza, or are caring for a family member with influenza?
• Can an employee stay home under Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to avoid getting the flu?
• Will workers qualify for unemployment if an flu pandemic hits and their employer has to shut down operations?  
• During a pandemic, some employees may not be able to come to work because public transportation is not available. May an employer lay them off?  
• May employers fire employees (in non-health care sectors) if they refuse to follow the company’s rules to control infection and increase hygienic practices during a pandemic?
• May employers mandate employees stay home if they or members of their family are known or suspected to have the flu or been exposed to someone with the flu?   
• May an ADA-covered employer send employees home if they display influenza-like symptoms during a pandemic?
• Could an organization be held liable if their employees or customers contract pandemic influenza while working at or visiting its place of business?
• What changes should be made, if any, to employee travel and what should be done to ensure employees living abroad are prepared?
• Can employers close their place of business to employees or customers known to have contracted or to have been exposed to pandemic influenza?
• If individuals volunteer to a public agency, are they entitled to compensation?
• Does USERRA protect members of the National Guard who are activated under State law?
• Must an employer continue health insurance for an employee on military duty?
• Do members of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) have reemployment rights if they are activated because of a pandemic influenza outbreak?
• When an employee with disabilities returns from travel during a pandemic, must an employer wait until the employee develops influenza symptoms to ask questions about exposure to pandemic influenza during the trip?
• If an employer establishes a child care center at the workplace for children who have been dismissed from school, will it violate the CDC’s community social distancing strategies for children?
• What kinds of information should be conveyed to employees to prepare them for the issues that are likely to be of concern to them should a pandemic occur? What is the best way to communicate this information?
• What should an employer do if they believe employees at work have the flu?
• Should employers encourage employees to obtain seasonal flu vaccines and offer them in the workplace?
• At work, they are putting together a team to develop Policies & Procedures. Do you have any suggestions?
• What legal responsibility do employers have to allow parents or care givers time off from work to care for the sick or children who have been dismissed from school?
• What types of policy options do employers have for preventing abuse of leave?
• If a business is open during a pandemic, can the employer fire or layoff a worker who cannot come to work because of a state, federal or locally ordered quarantine in the town where she lives? (This worker is neither sick, nor caring for a sick family member.)  
• Which employees are eligible to take Family and Medical Leave Act leave?
• May employers change their paid sick leave policy if a number of employees are out and they cannot afford to pay them all?  
• If an employer temporarily closes his or her place of business because of an flu pandemic and chooses to lay off some but not all employees, are there any federal laws that would govern this decision?  
• Some employees may not be able to come to work because they have to take care of sick family members. May an employer lay them off?  
• What notices must be given before an employee is terminated or laid off?  
• An employee was laid off and did not receive his/her last paycheck. What remedies are available?
• May employers change their paid sick leave policy if a number of employees are out and they cannot afford to pay them all?
• How many hours is an employer obligated to pay an hourly-paid employee who works a partial week because the employer’s business closed?
• If individuals volunteer to a private, not-for-profit organization, are they entitled to compensation?
• What are the basic reemployment rights when an employee returns following military service?
• What is the law that applies to the job rights for National Guard and Reserve members being called up for active duty?
• Is an employer required to pay an employee while the employee is on military duty?
• Once a pandemic begins, may employers mandate alternative work schedules (e.g., flex-time, staggered shifts) or alternative work arrangements (e.g., telework) to promote social distancing?
• Could employers be held liable if employees are injured while teleworking?
• Can an employee be required to perform work outside of the employee's job description?
• May employers close lunch rooms and other gathering places to minimize contact between employees?
• Do employers have to pay employees their same hourly rate or salary if they work at home?
• Where can an employer or employee go for assistance concerning employment and reemployment rights for veterans or members of the Guard or Reserve?
• How many hours per day or per week can an employee work?
• Are businesses and other employers required to cover any additional costs that employees may incur if they work from home (DSL line, computer, additional phone line, increased use of electricity, etc.)?
• What if an employee has asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate because they believe it is unsafe to come to work or perform specific duties and claims retaliation if the employer takes action against them for refusing to come to work or perform these duties?