Answers to tricky HR questions: Room-sharing travel policies
May 1, 2008 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: Answers to tricky HR questions, Communication, Disability discrimination, Employment law, Latest News & Views
Our team of experts fields real-life, everyday questions from HR managers and gives practical answers that can be applied by any HR pro in the same situation. Today’s question: The legality of room-sharing travel policies.
Question
Our policy is that when two employees of the same gender are traveling together on company business, they must share a hotel room.
Some of those employees may be taking medication or administering treatment to themselves for health problems. Are we risking a HIPAA violation by requiring them to give up their privacy?
Answer
Generally, the answer is no, says Jane Dalton, attorney with Duane Morris LLP, but there is a catch.
Inadvertent disclosure of a medical condition as a result of the same-room policy doesn’t fall under HIPAA. However, the ADA requires that medical info be kept confidential, and many states have laws that protect employees’ privacy rights in such circumstances.
So the violation might fall under ADA, not HIPAA.
Tags: ada, duane morris, hipaa, policies, travel
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May 27th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Aren’t there other concerns (besides potential medical disclosure) over having a policy that requires employees to share rooms)? You have incompatability issues such as smokers/non-smokers, those who go to bed (or rise) early/late that affects whether or not the lights/TV are on, potential of putting people with different sexual orientation together inadvertently that may cause issues, and just the lack of privacy. My feeling is that if a company requires an employee to be away from their home, the least they can do is give them a private room to help make up for that. Are there many companies that have such policies of forcing employees to share rooms?
June 16th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
You don’t deal with the trickier issue. If you have 3 women and one man, is it discriminatory to provide the man a single room? And what are the issues if you don’t? And, how do you decide which woman gets a single?
July 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I am the HR Admin for an electrical contractor that frequently has work out of town that requires a 2-man crew to share a hotel room that the company pays for. This expense is calculated in our bids and, to remain competitive, the crews must share a room to keep the costs down. This is a common practice with other contractors who are on the same sites that we are.
All of our employees are aware of our room-sharing policy during the interview process and are also advised of the company’s expectations of each employee’s conduct and treatment of fellow employees.
We have had issues of compatibility for a variety of reasons. To deal with this, we have changed crew members around to try to accommodate differences. In some cases, we will re-assign a crew that otherwise works well together to a job that does not require overnight stays.
We have found that if there is a particular employee who has difficulty sharing a room with ANYONE also has difficulties working on jobsites with anyone. We will then try assigning that employee to 1-man jobs. We don’t have very many of these so this isn’t always an option.
In some cases, despite every attempt to find a working solution, that employee eventually ends up being terminated.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I can’t imagine working for an employer who forces co-workers to share a room. I see it as an invasion of personal privacy to be expected to take care of personal hygiene, dress and sleep in the same room with someone who could be little more than an acquaintance. I’m going to a conference soon and while the idea of sharing a room came up, when I asked for my own room I received permission. I actually really like my co-workers, but I appreciate privacy for my morning religious and fitness routine. Plus I just like downtime by myself after the work day is done. Unless I’m being paid for it I don’t think I should be expected to be with a co-worker 24/7.
I don’t know about legal issues, but private rooms equal happier and more productive employees. I was in the military so I know all about tight quarters, which is probably why I’m not interested in doing it anymore. I’m an adult working in a professional field, I feel I’m entitled to my own room if I’m asked to travel.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:08 am
If we only had a few employees occasionally needing to stay overnight somewhere for 1 or 2 nights, separate rooms probably wouldn’t be an issue. We have up to 10 crews (1 electrician, 1 apprentice each) staying out of town 4 nights per week for several MONTHS at a time. Separate rooms for each employee ranging from $70 to $150 per night, depending on the area and the time of year (we are in Florida), would be cost prohibitive. If we were to allow each employee to have his/her own room, one of two things would happen: 1) if we bid the projects with this additional cost included, we wouldn’t be getting anymore out of town work and we would eventually go out of business; or 2) we would be lose so much money on every project we worked on if it was not included and, in time, we would go out of business. As I said in my previous post, this is a common practice in the construction industry for exactly the reasons stated above.
Also, as I said before, all applicants are made aware of this policy during the interview. If they would have an issue with sharing a room with another employee, they can decline to work here.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:26 am
Somehow, we have strayed from the issue about personal health issues when sharing a room. Gee, the last time I checked, hotel rooms have restrooms with doors that lock. If you need to take medication, orally or by injection, the availabilty of privacy is there. It may not be convenient (but since when has a hotel ever been!), but it is not unreasonable. As far as the meds themselves go, they can be kept them in a case or travel bag. If they are displayed on the counter, dresser, nightstand or whatever, as far as I’m concerned, that person’s privacy was voluntarily surrendered.
re: Lynn’s post where she mentions sexual orientation - if someone makes an advance toward another employee, that’s sexual harassment. If one of the employees invites
“entertainment” to the room, well, let’s not open that can of worms here. I don’t know of any company that would condone that type of behavior and if it does, perhaps it would be time to look for employment elsewhere.
re: Rhonda’s post - in your scenario, I would hope whoever is in charge of making the hotel arrangements would have enough foresight to see a potential problem and would book separate rooms for each employee. If that is not financially feasible, then maybe different or fewer people should go - based on seniority and position within the company, of course.
To those who don’t want to dress/undress in front of someone else, ditto on the restroom. You like to sleep nude? Well, sometimes small sacrifices have to be made.
Now, if some company was to make you share the same bed - that would be going over the line…
November 8th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I use a C-Pap Machine to sleep at nights. It would be very embarrassing if my co-workers had to see this.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Re: tj bone - You may be covered under the ADA, where a separate room would be a reasonable accommodation. The potential of an ADA violation is mentioned in the story.
I would think that if an employee had a medical condition that would unavoidably be disclosed to a co-worker by sharing a room, that person would talk to HR about a separate room. (Unless a medical condition is disclosed on a post-job medical questionnaire, medical exam, etc., the company cannot be expected to know about any and all medical conditions that may require an accommodation.) The company would probably be legally obligated to provide a separate room under the ADA.
If an employee wanted a separate room based simply on personal preference, the company is under no legal obligation to do so.