Monkeypox has yet to be declared an occupational hazard, but some say it's time for leaders to share how they’re assessing the situation.
Good morning—Amber here! Today, Fortune’s Paige McGlauflin digs into how leaders can and should communicate about monkeypox in the workplace. It’s a tricky conversation for sure, but employees are looking to their employers for guidance. Read on below.
COVID-19’s sudden arrival left employers scrambling to inform workers of safety protocols and set policies in place. More than two years later, another virus threatens to do the same.
There are now over 7,500 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared it a public emergency, and states like California, New York, and Illinois have declared their own state of emergencies. With the pandemic still fresh in employers’ minds, many wonder what protections they should be implementing at this point, if any.
So far, there are no workplace-specific responses required for monkeypox, and neither the CDC nor OSHA have declared the outbreak an occupational hazard. For now, employment lawyers advise companies to keep tabs on government guidance as the disease progresses.
“When it comes to infectious diseases, we always advise employers to track what the CDC recommends and go forward with that,” Adam Young, a partner and workplace safety and health attorney at Seyfarth Shaw, tells Fortune. “At this point, the CDC has not declared this to...
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