Human Resource Information - Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Managers and supervisors should recommend that employees who are sick remain off-duty (i.e., on sick leave) until symptoms resolve, and that they seek medical assistance, as appropriate. Anyone sick and believed to be at risk for COVID-19 infection should be advised to seek medical assistance and follow the CDC recommendations:

•  Stay home except to get medical care.
• Separate yourself from other people in your home and avoid sharing personal household items.
• If you have a medical appointment, call the health care provider and tell them that you are concerned about the possibility of COVID-19 infection before going to the doctor’s office. 
• Wear a facemask when you are around other people.
• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue.
• Clean your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Seek prompt medical attention if your illness is worsening.
• If you are placed under active monitoring, or facilitated self-monitoring, follow the instructions provided by your local health department or occupational health professional, as appropriate. 
• Consult with your health care provider before discontinuing home isolation.

If an employee declines to take leave, managers and supervisors should consult with Human Resources and Division Offices for assistance in determining whether there is objective evidence of illness. If there is objective evidence of illness, and an employee refuses to take leave, a manager or supervisor may, over the objection of the employee, require that the employee leave the workplace.

Managers and supervisors should seek assistance from their HumanResources or Division Offices before taking any action to ensure that all appropriate options have been considered. Action should not be taken based solely on a manager’s or supervisor’s subjective assessment of an employee’s medical condition.

Employees who are sick with a contagious acute respiratory illness should be advised to remain at home for at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (≥ 100° F / 37.8° C) and signs of fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications) to minimize the spread of the pathogen. Employees should seek immediate medical care if symptoms become more severe (e.g., high fever, difficulty breathing, etc).

No. Supervisors should actively encourage sick employees to stay home, but should not require employees who are sick to validate their illness. A statement from a qualified physician verifying the employee’s absence due to illness or injury may be required on the third (3^rd) day of absence, except when the employee has exhausted all earned sick leave, then a verifying statement may be required at any time.

The CDC reports that COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

At present, the CDC also includes epidemiologic risk factors, such as a history of travel from affected geographic within 14 days of symptom onset or close contact with a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patient within 14 days of symptom onset as criteria for health care professionals to identify individuals as patients under investigation (PUI). Refer to the most current CDC guidance as the PUI criteria will likely change as further information becomes available.

Yes. An employer may require a certification from a health care provider clearing an employee to return to work if they have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19. However, managers and supervisors should work with HumanResources and their Division Offices to ensure consistent practices and uniformed treatment of employees.

Employees who are healthy but whose family members are home sick with COVID-19 should notify their supervisor and refer to CDC Guidance for Implementing Home Care of People Not Requiring Hospitalization for COVID-19 for guidance on conducting a risk assessment of their potential exposure.

If certain members of an employee’s family are sick, the employee may be entitled to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California Family Rights Act (CFRA). The FMLA and CFRA entitle eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a fiscal year to care for certain family members with a serious health condition.  COVID-19 may qualify as a “serious health condition.” 

Additionally, under certain collective bargaining agreements, employees with accrued sick leave may use it to care for ill family members. If an employee has no accrued time off, the employee may be granted unpaid time off to care for an ill family member. Applicable policies and collective bargaining agreement provisions should be consulted. Employees should be encouraged to avail themselves of options available under the applicable policy or collective bargaining agreement provisions.  

The CDC recommends that individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 positive remain in isolation, either at home or in a health care facility (as determined by clinical status), until they are determined by state or local public health authorities, in coordination with the CDC, to be no longer infectious.

The location of this isolation will be determined by public health authorities and isolation may be compelled by public health order, if necessary. College locations may support the isolation of confirmed COVID-19 cases as approved by public health authorities. Mandatory quarantine orders are issued by public health authorities. College locations may be asked to help implement quarantine or isolation orders or may request self-monitoring and implement social-distancing measures, including requesting students to restrict their movements and public activities, including attending class.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is authorized to establish and maintain places of isolation and quarantine, and has the final authority to implement statutes and regulations pertaining to the control of communicable diseases. Because the CDPH has ultimate authority in this area, all College locations should coordinate with local public health agencies to ensure that their actions are consistent with the most current CDPH orders, rules and regulations pertaining to the control of COVID-19.

Yes. Generally, health care providers — including doctors, nurses, physician assistants, among others — at College student health centers, health care clinics and medical centers who know of, or are in attendance on, a case or suspected case of COVID-19 are required to report it to the local health department immediately, by telephone, in accordance with internal administrative procedures. Where no health care provider is in attendance, any individual who knows of, or suspects that, someone has COVID-19 is permitted to report it to the local health department. Local health departments, in turn, notify the CDPH. Contact information for the local health officers may be found at the CDPH website.  Delta staff are instructed to first report this information to their division office and then division offices will report to Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services.

Yes. Student health center personnel may alert instructors about a student who is a carrier of COVID-19 if the student does not comply with instructions to leave College locations, to stop attending class and/or to go home or to an appropriate health facility for treatment.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act15 (FERPA) permits disclosure of student treatment records for purposes other than treatment to “appropriate persons [to protect others] in connection with an emergency if knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals.” The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act16 (HIPAA) provides that such disclosure of protected health information without patient consent is permitted if there is a good faith belief that the disclosure is “necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public; and [the disclosure] is to a person or persons reasonably able to prevent or lessen the threat.” California case law holds that health care providers have a duty to take reasonable steps, including breaching patient confidentiality, to warn and protect others at risk from a patient with a communicable disease. California regulations regarding communicable diseases obligate a health care provider in attendance on a case of suspected communicable disease to breach confidentiality to give detailed instructions to household members of a sick person communicable disease. California regulations regarding communicable diseases obligate a health care provider in attendance on a case of suspected communicable disease to breach confidentiality to give detailed instructions to household members of a sick person regarding precautionary measures to be taken for preventing the spread of the disease or condition. Even when circumstances warranting disclosure exist, the disclosure should be as limited as possible; only necessary information should be shared and disclosures should be made only to those people with a need to know.

A local health department may also provide a College location with advance written approval in order to disclose such information in such circumstances. Further, as previously indicated, a health official may release personal information, as necessary to   prevent the spread of disease or the occurrence of additional cases.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) requires certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. These provisions will apply from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

In general, employees of private sector employers with fewer than 500 employees, and certain public sector employers, are eligible for up to two weeks of fully or partially paid sick leave for COVID-19 related reasons (see below). Employees who have been employed for at least 30 days prior to their leave request may be eligible for up to an additional 10 weeks of partially paid expanded family and medical leave for reason #5 below.

NOTE: Health care providers and emergency responders may be excluded by their employer from being able to take expanded family and medical leave under the Act.