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PERSONNEL
BY DON HARRIS
Getting Ready for the Return of School Employees
Health considerations and various personnel-related
issues must be taken into account when school employees
resume their normal duties, experts told AASBO members
in a mid-July webinar.
The presentation by Jennifer MacLennan and Carrie
O’Brien, both with Gust Rosenfeld law firm, emphasized
the steps that must be taken as AASBO members and other
staff return to school campuses and offered suggestions to
help ease the process.
“If an employee is claiming to
have contracted COVID-19 at
work, the district should contact
its workers’ compensation carrier.”
Initially, make sure Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention protocols are in place, prepare the physical
workplaces by separating employees, screen and take
employees’ temperature, and segregate employees who
display symptoms if they become sick at work.
MacLennan recommended implementing a cleaning
protocol if someone tests positive for COVID-19. Consider
what you should do in various scenarios, including if
someone is sick and tests negative. She also recommended
having a COVID-19 coordinator.
“Work with HR and counsel while you try to figure out
protocols,” MacLennan said.
If an employee has been exposed to the virus or tests
positive, you are not required to report it to health
authorities, but MacLennan recommended that you do
so anyway. A temporary shutdown for perhaps 24 hours
should be considered combined with deep cleaning to
avert a spread to other employees.
Under Occupational Safety and Health guidelines, you
should conduct an inquiry to determine whether an
employee contracted the virus at work. “It must be a
reported occupational illness if it is confirmed COVID-19
and work related,” MacLennan said. “If an employee
Jennifer MacLennan Carrie O'Brien
is claiming to have contracted COVID-19 at work, the
district should contact its workers’ compensation carrier.”
Workplace protocols involve keeping communal spaces
properly separated, temperature taking and health
screening, having employees eat at their desk, and
taking protective measures for elevators and bathrooms.
MacLennan said.
Regarding face coverings, MacLennan said, “Districts can
require them for employees and students. Whether they
are required or not, the liability issue is starting to roll.”
Individuals can request to be exempted, if, for example, a
person has trouble breathing. A face shield with an open
window may be used so a hearing-impaired person can
see the other person’s mouth moving. If a person’s refusal
to wear a face covering involves a religious concern,
MacLennan said, “In my opinion, a health emergency
trumps someone’s expression of their religion.”
Accommodations for returning employees need to be
addressed early. MacLennan recommended surveying
employees prior to their return to find out what they
need, whether it is a workplace modification or something
required under the Americans with Disabilities Act for
someone who has trouble breathing or walking.
“Conducting an ADA interactive process with employees
who indicate a need for accommodations is a huge
task for HR,” MacLennan said. “You may provide
workplace alternatives for those who do not qualify for
accommodations. It someone is scared to come back to work
or has diabetes they may qualify for an accommodation.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suggests
potential accommodations such as additional or enhanced
protective gowns, masks, gloves, or other gear, and
increasing the space between an employee with a disability
and others.
Still other accommodations could include a temporary
modification of work schedules, moving the location of
where a person works, allowing remote work opportunities,
and offering a leave. For example, MacLennan said, a
one-year leave is an accommodation and it’s not breaking
an employee’s contract. “Districts may want to look at
that,” she said.
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