EEOC Issues Updated COVID-19 Technical Assistance Guide

EEOC adds more questions and answers to common inquiries

EEOC issued “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and other EEO Laws” which expands the previous publication that focused on the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.  The new tool adds more questions and answers which respond to common inquiries.   

Some of the new questions include:

• When screening employees entering the workplace during this time, may an employer only ask employees about the COVID-19 symptoms EEOC has identified as examples, or may it ask about any symptoms identified by public health authorities as associated with COVID-19?
• May an employer store in existing medical files information it obtains related to COVID-19, including the results of taking an employee’s temperature or the employee’s self-identification as having this disease, or must the employer create a new medical file system solely for this information?
• If an employer requires all employees to have a daily temperature check before entering the workplace may the employer maintain a log of the results?
• May an employer disclose the name of an employee to a public health agency when it learns that the employee has COVID-19?
• May a temporary staffing agency or a contractor that places an employee in an employer’s workplace notify the employer if it learns the employee has COVID-19?

Additional questions and answers cover hiring and onboarding, reasonable accommodation, pandemic-related harassment due to national origin, race, or other protected characteristics, furloughs and layoffs. 

EEOC also posted resources on its website related to the pandemic in an employment context. 

Please see previous blog – March 9, 2020 - EEOC Issues Guidance on What Employers Should Know about the ADA, Rehabilitation Act, and the Coronavirus