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EEOC Updates COVID-19-Related Employer Guidance on Antibody Testing
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) again updated its employer guidance related to COVID-19 late last week, this time with guidance related to employers requiring antibody testing before allowing employees to return to the workplace.
The EEOC previously released guidance allowing employers to conduct temperature checks on employees and to inquire about COVID-19-related symptoms as part of their outbreak mitigation strategies. The EEOC also advised employers that they could require employees to test for COVID-19 prior to returning to the workplace. These are temporary practices that are typically disallowed by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
The EEOC clarified now, however, that based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), employers cannot require antibody testing before allowing employees to return to the workplace. Antibody testing, the EEOC advises, is considered a medical examination under the ADA and does not meet the “business necessity” standard. Employers may still require viral testing to determine of an employee has an active COVID-19 case, but antibody testing is strictly disallowed.
Morse is focused on assisting our clients through these unprecedented and challenging times. Please contact the Firm should you have questions concerning this subject, or any other COVID-19 response matters.
EEOC Issues Guidelines with Respect to COVID-19 “Higher Risk” Employees
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified certain groups of individuals as “higher risk” for severe illness from COVID-19.
A growing number of states have effected, or have announced, plans that relate to an easing of shelter-in-place and business closure orders. Many of these plans incorporate specific instructions that relate to higher risk employees, including instructions that exclude higher risk employees from worksites, under certain circumstances.
As emphasized in a recent federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) guidance, state re-opening standards that relate to higher risk employees must be interpreted, and applied by employers, in accordance with federal Americans with Disabilities Act anti-discrimination standards.
Employment law attorneys Matt Mitchell and Amanda Thibodeau summarize the EEOC Guidance in our COVID-19 Alert.
Massachusetts Employment Law Blog 