During the present surge in COVID-19 cases due to the variant called JN.1, employers must decide whether to let sick employees work from home, even as more employers are asking staff to return to work in the office. Whether to give employees with COVID-19 such flexibility can be a close call. Here are factors employers should consider.
While managers should encourage employees to stay home if they feel ill, “assuming that an employee with COVID-19 symptoms feels well enough to work and be productive, then remote work can be allowed if technologically feasible,” said Jim Paul, SHRM-SCP, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in St. Louis and Tampa, Fla. However, if an employee needs to rest and recuperate, an employer should offer time off instead, he said.
This means employers must balance competing concerns: the need to send sick workers home and enforce rules on isolation, and employers’ wish for employees to resume working in the office. Also, if an employer permits remote work while an employee is sick, it must ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)—particularly with nonexempt employees—and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
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