What HR Professionals Need to Know About Returning Employees to Work and COVID-19 Testing

The rapidly changing legal landscape surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create uncertainty for employers looking to reopen their workplaces and bring employees back to work.  Regardless of geographic location or industry, all employers are required to comply with the most current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in addition to state or local public health authorities, on how to ensure the safety of its workforce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.  Additionally, employers with 15 or more employees must become familiar with the most current guidance issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) when testing employees for COVID-19 as a condition of reentering the workplace.  Employers want to ensure that any mandatory testing or screening complies with the EEOC’s new guidelines to avoid violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires that any mandatory medical test of employees be “job related and consistent with business necessity.”

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