Taking Body Temperature:
EEOC Guidance:
- Generally, measuring an employee's body temperature is a medical examination. Because the CDC and state/local health authorities have acknowledged community spread of COVID-19 and issued attendant precautions, employers may measure employees' body temperature.
- However, employers should be aware that some people with COVID-19 do not have a fever.
- https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/wysk/wysk_ada_rehabilitaion_act_coronavirus.cfm
Pennsylvania Guidance:
- Upon discovery that a business has been exposed to a person who is a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19, employers should implement temperature screening:
- before employees enter the premises, prior to the start of each shift or, for employees who do not work shifts, before the employee starts work, and
- send employees home that have an elevated temperature or fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
- https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Documents/Diseases%20and%20Conditions/SOH%20COVID-19%20Worker%20Safety%20Order.pdf
‘Accommodating’ Face Mask Use
EEOC Guidance:
- An employer does not have to provide a particular reasonable accommodation if it poses an "undue hardship," which means "significant difficulty or expense." In some instances, an accommodation that would not have posed an undue hardship prior to the pandemic may pose one now.
- An employer may require employees to wear protective gear (for example, masks and gloves) and observe infection control practices (for example, regular hand washing and social distancing protocols.
- However, where an employee with a disability needs a related reasonable accommodation under the ADA (e.g., non-latex gloves, modified face masks for interpreters or others who communicate with an employee who uses lip reading, or gowns designed for individuals who use wheelchairs), or a religious accommodation under Title VII (such as modified equipment due to religious garb), the employer should discuss the request and provide the modification or an alternative if feasible and not an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business under the ADA or Title VII.
- https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/wysk/wysk_ada_rehabilitaion_act_coronavirus.cfm
CDC Guidance:
- When facemasks are not available, use a face shield that covers the entire front (that extends to the chin or below) and sides of the face with no facemask.
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/face-masks.html