Coronavirus & Influenza: Obligations Under FMLA, ADA, Title VII & More

Summary

Employers are scrambling to reopen their businesses and bring their employees back into the workplace.  All 50 states are now phasing their businesses and industries back on-line.  However, no one is certain what COVID-19 will do next.  It may go away for the summer, just to return in a more virulent form in the fall or winter. Plus, the “Garden variety” influenza is waiting for the next cold season to come back, potentially in an evolved, vaccine-resistant form. 

But, businesses can’t simply close and American can’t stop moving.  We’re stuck in the limbo of: Hope for the best, and plan for the worst.

Taking effective action will require advanced planning and strategic management decisions. Just how far can employers go to keep their businesses operating while not violating the ADA, FMLA, Title VII, or other state and federal laws?

Join our 90-minute event as we address crucial questions employers must face such as:

• Can you make an employee go home if they seem sick?
• What if an employee refuses to work near someone who appears to be ill?
• How do you handle leave time – is it paid or unpaid?
• What can you ask about an employee’s illness before it’s a privacy rights violation?
• Can employers require employees to wear face masks or gloves?
• What best practices should employers implement now to protect employees?
• Plus: Updates from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and state health authorities

Program Highlights

Crucial Compliance Regulations & Requirements – Avoid Costly Violations

• Permitted employer actions under the ADA, FMLA, Title VII and other federal and state statutes and regulations
• The important ADA concepts of “disability-related inquiries,” “medical examinations,” “direct threat,” “undue hardship, and other similar terms
• Leave policies and FMLA requirements
• Acceptable teleworking arrangements to protect employees

Answers to Essential Questions Employers are Asking:

• If an employee calls in sick what can an employer ask regarding the nature of her/his illness?
• Can an employer take the body temperature of an employee?
• Can an employer tell an employee to stay home if they are exhibiting symptoms?
• Can an employer send an employee home involuntarily?
• Upon the employee’s return to work, can an employer require a doctor’s certification?
• Can an employer require employees to take influenza vaccinations?
• During a pandemic, does an employer need to keep providing accommodations to an employee with a known disability?

Program Benefits

Please join Dr. Jim Castagnera, labor and employment attorney of 36 years’ experience, as he explains what employee-related actions the ADA, FMLA, and other relevant federal regulations permit employers to take before, during, and in the aftermath of an outbreak.

If you’d like this program customized for your organization, call us at 1-800-964-6033. We’re certain we can fulfill your training needs, while making it fit in your budget!

About the Speaker

Jim Castagnera holds an M.A. in Journalism from Kent State University, and a J.D. and Ph.D. (American Studies) from Case Western Reserve University. He practiced law for 36 years, before retiring in June 2019: 10 years as a labor, employment and intellectual-property attorney with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr; 3 years as general counsel for Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates; and 23 years as the associate provost & legal counsel for academic affairs at Rider University.

Currently, he devotes his full-time to writing, teaching and training. He is the chief consultant for Holland Media Services, LLC, a freelance writing, training and communications company headquartered in Los Angeles, and a founder of LMC Conflict Training & Conciliation, Inc., a non-profit corporation located in Greater Philadelphia.