{"id":122536,"date":"2020-11-29T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T15:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/can-my-employer-demand-a-covid-test-before-returning-to-office\/"},"modified":"2020-11-29T18:56:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T15:56:09","slug":"can-my-employer-demand-a-covid-test-before-returning-to-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/can-my-employer-demand-a-covid-test-before-returning-to-office\/","title":{"rendered":"#Can my employer demand a COVID test before returning to office?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Can my employer demand a COVID test before returning to office?<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n My new employer is requiring that I take an antibody test to see if I have ever had COVID-19. Is it legal for him to ask for this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employers are within their rights to require that employees and new hires take a test to see if they are currently infected with COVID before they allow them to enter the workplace, but not as a condition of employment.<\/p>\n

However, testing for antibodies to see if someone has ever had COVID is a completely different matter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> guidelines say that antibody test results \u201cshould not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, it constitutes a medical examination under the Americans with Disabilities Act<\/a>, and an antibody test at this time does not meet the ADA\u2019s \u201cjob-related and consistent with business necessity\u201d standard for medical examinations or inquiries for current employees.<\/p>\n

So no, it is not legal and is a violation of the ADA \u2014 currently.<\/p>\n

If I call in sick, can my employer ask if I have symptoms of COVID, and then require a doctor\u2019s note before I return?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re all COVID this week, for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

During a pandemic such as this, employers may ask their employees if they are experiencing symptoms of the virus. Employers must maintain all information about any employee illness as a confidential medical record.<\/p>\n

An employer may also exclude those who test positive for COVID, or who have symptoms that are associated with COVID, from the workplace because, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission<\/a> has stated, their presence would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others.<\/p>\n

And yes, for those same reasons, employers may require a doctor\u2019s sign-off that you are no longer infectious before allowing you to return to work.<\/p>\n

Stay safe, my friends.<\/p>\n

Gregory Giangrande has over 25 years of experience as a chief human resources executive. E-mail your questions to GoToGreg@NYPost.com. Follow Greg on Twitter<\/a>: @greggiangrande and at GoToGreg.com<\/a>, dedicated to helping New Yorkers get back to work.<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Can my employer demand a COVID test before returning to office?” My new employer is requiring that I take an antibody test to see if I have ever had COVID-19. Is it legal for him to ask for this? Employers are within their rights to require that employees and new hires take a test to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/covid-anti-body.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[82130,71736,1545,75466,71738],"class_list":["post-122536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-29-20","tag-at-work","tag-coronavirus","tag-employment","tag-go-to-greg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}