NC coronavirus Q&A: How does the coronavirus threat affect employers and workplaces?
With the number of coronavirus cases rising across North Carolina, leading Gov. Roy Cooper to declare a state of emergency, small-business owners and other employers have questions about how they can or should respond. Can I ask employees about their travels? Can employees be ordered to stay home, see a doctor or get tests? The News & Observer is reaching out to employment attorneys and other experts for answers to questions from business owners about how to deal with COVID-19 in the workplace and managing business.
If you’re a small-business owner or other employer with questions, or an employment law expert with answers, send them to asanchezguerra@newsobserver.com.
We will update this story regularly, so check back for additional information.
Q: Can I ask my employees about their recent travel?
Response from Natalie Sanders, a labor and employment attorney with Brooks Pierce: Yes. Employers at this point in the coronavirus situation can require employees to report any travel they have taken internationally or to places with known outbreaks. The employment laws that really come up here have to do with medical information. But simply asking employees about travel is not prohibited. Employers should be consistent in the questions they ask and carry out a policy in who they’re asking so no one feels discriminated against or singled out.
It’s best at this point for employers to put together a policy and let employees know what the expectations are. A policy would probably say: “Report to us if you have reason to believe you have been exposed, or that you have been in close contact with someone else who has been exposed.”
Q: Can I require an employee to be tested for the coronavirus?
Response from employment attorney Natalie Sanders: There are likely to be industry-specific differences here. What might be appropriate in a health care setting could be different from a manufacturing setting or an office setting. The Americans with Disabilities Act regulates when employers can ask for medical information or ask workers to undergo a medical examination.
There’s some good guidance that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission put out back in 2009 with the flu pandemic. It says you should be guided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whether it has been declared a pandemic and in situations where you might have a substantial, real risk, then it may be appropriate to ask someone to submit to a medical examination. It really varies by industry, workplace setting and the risk factor.
Q: Should I allow employees who have exhausted their sick leave to stay home from work if they feel unwell?
Response from employment attorney Natalie Sanders: Employers should encourage all sick employees to stay home. The CDC is encouraging employers to be flexible in their policies. North Carolina does not have a mandatory paid leave law for private employers, so there is no current obligation for employers to provide additional paid leave. Employers can make exceptions to their policies, so long as they are carried out in a non-discriminatory manner. An easy example would be if schools close. An employer could not have a policy that says, “We’re going to go ahead and pay women who have to stay home to take care of children who aren’t in school, but we’re not going to pay men.” That would be discrimination.
Q: How do I manage employees who want to work from home?
Response from employment attorney Natalie Sanders: Working remotely, if it is feasible, is what employers want to encourage people to do at this stage if they can. How to manage the employees working from home is going to be very specific to the employers and what they have the capabilities to do. You’ll know if the work is getting done or not. But generally, we’re in a situation where the people who are most likely to be equipped to work from home are at a level where they understand expectations. If working from home is new to your employees, have clear policies on work hours, production and keeping in touch with supervisors.
Q: What if my employees refuse to come into work?
Response from employment attorney Natalie Sanders: If employees refuse to come to work, they may have some protections under the law. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, for example, if there is an immediate, true danger in the workplace, workers would have some protections from disciplinary action.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees refusing to come to work could be construed as a “concerted activity” if there is some basis for believing that the workplace is unsafe.
Employers aren’t required to pay people who refuse to come to work. But if the employee actions meet the standards under those statutes, an absence probably can’t count under an attendance policy or be used to justify firing someone.
Q: How can small-business owners manage their assets effectively during historically volatile stock market drops, in the short and long term?
Response from Rick Waechter, Certified Financial Planner at Old Peak Finance in Chapel Hill: Business owners need liquidity in these times – cash and access to bank loans. Working with your bank is a great place to start. They will want to see you are a good long-term credit – you just need to get through the short-term crisis. Then focus on working capital management – delaying payables and doing anything you can to collect receivables and minimize inventory or pre-paying expenses.
We all recognize this may mean furloughing staff, which is a terrible decision to make, but may be necessary to save the business. The government is taking steps to help here. For example, Gov. Cooper is requesting the Small Business Administration declare a disaster for certain NC businesses, to provide disaster loans. We all need to be creative to look for any way we can maintain liquidity. It’s impossible to predict when and where the bottom will be reached, so erring on the side of more liquidity than less makes sense.
Owners should over-communicate. Be honest – don’t sugar-coat. Transparency is crucial. Finally, owners should be prepared to work around the clock. There is no 9-to-5 until the crisis abates.
Q: What can employers and employees do about their retirement accounts like their 401(k) at this time?
Response from Certified Financial Planner Rick Waechter: For your 401(k) accounts, or for a brokerage account invested for the long-term, do not sell stock. We have had multiple crises over the last century, and every time, the market eventually bounced back. It may take months or years. No one knows. But you cannot identify the bottom. So, if you sell, you will likely buy back at a higher price later. Stock prices are looking months and years ahead, so they will already have gone up by the time you see the economy recovering.
In fact, at some stage over the next 6-12 months, you should buy stock. That’s not because you can time the bottom. It’s because you should “re-balance” one or two times a year, back to your target stock market percentage holding. If you decided a few years ago you should hold 60% of your investments in stock, that percentage is now lower, because of stock price declines. So you should move it back to 60% by buying stock. If you own a so-called target date fund, the fund manager will do it for you.
Q: What are some specific issues in the Triangle that businesses should look out for, and how can they handle them?
Response from Certified Financial Planner Rick Waechter: We are a knowledge-based economy, so we have advantages. Many of us can work remote. If you can, you should, starting today. Many of us can be just as productive as if we were in the office. We need to over-communicate with clients, employees and business partners. Let them know you are available at any time to meet virtually and that you have systems set up to work remote – which, presumably, you do. If you don’t, they are easy and quick to set up.
Be flexible whenever possible on employee hours. Parents will have unpredictable schedules with kids at home. Staff need their colleagues to cover for them, and they will surely return the favor when they have downtime.
At Old Peak, we are doing a daily 9 am meeting via Slack. It keeps everyone focused on the work at hand. We brainstorm ideas of how to respond to this unpredictable world. And it reinforces the fact that, while we are not physically together, we are still a team.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 1:17 PM.
