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update: my employee keeps coming to work sick
- An employee who repeatedly ignored requests not to come to work when ill did ultimately respect his employer’s guidelines after being briefed privately following a vacation.
- The manager of the worker who insisted on coming in when ill wrote to Alison Green, an advice columnist for Ask a Manager, to express difficulties in balancing the worker’s right to medical privacy, replacing him for absent shifts, and protecting other staff.
- Green advised that the company make sure its rules on sickness were clearly stated and displayed, that staff be consulted on whether the rules were being followed, and the company reinforce its stance to the employee.
- The manager subsequently sought guidance from the HR assistant director, and also spoke to the employee, adding new guidelines that anyone coming to work when sick would be subject to “documented action”.
- Guidelines included terms that symptomatic workers cannot come to work until “symptoms completely subside,” returning to work after illness required full recovery, and if staff members are “exposed to someone with a contagious illness” to wear a mask.
- Workers were exhorted to “err on the side of caution” by masking up when symptoms appeared, and management stressed that failing to do so would constitute a breach of responsibility.
- Advice to library staff included carrying Clorox wipes to clean keyboards, phones, etc, and continuing good hygiene practices.
- Green revealed in a further column that she had received many inquiries about how to handle staff illness in the time of COVID-19, following a rush for advice when the pandemic first struck.
- Green noted that jobs with paid sick leave made it easier to stay off in these circumstances, and also that employers be clear about contagion protocols and offer remote working opportunities.
- Employers should also be mindful of costs, Green wrote, as covering absences and offering paid leave can be expensive, but noted that businesses should have funds set aside for crises.
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