• Employers should review and implement workplace safety standards established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Commonwealth’s Reopening Advisory Board.   

• CDC’s guidance can be found here under the headings “Maintain Healthy Business Operations” and “Maintain a Healthy Work Environment.”

• OSHA’s guidance can be found here (pgs. 7-18); and

• The preliminary guidance from the Commonwealth’s Reopening Advisory Board can be found here. Employers should expect more detailed guidance from the Reopening Advisory Board in the coming days. 

• Implementation of safety standards should include, at a minimum, enforcing the wearing of face masks when social distancing cannot be assured; implementing policies aimed at maximizing social distancing in the workplace; ensuring frequent cleaning and sanitizing of high-touch areas; eliminating gatherings of employees in common areas that violate social distancing protocols; encouraging frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizing agents; and requiring self-reporting by employees who begin to experience symptoms of COVID-19 so that they may be immediately isolated and, if applicable, sent home.

• Once an employer is permitted, and has decided, to resume on-site activities, it should provide employees with sufficient notice of their return to work date to allow them to get their affairs in order and coordinate their schedules.

• Employers should consider adopting modified or staggered shift schedules to increase social distancing for returning workers.  

• If an employer will be recalling furloughed employees, the employer should:

• Ensure that the process of selecting which furloughed employees will be recalled is conducted in a legitimate, non-discriminatory manner;

• For employers with unions, recalling employees should be conducted in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement;

• Ensure that when exempt employees return, they receive their full weekly salary for any week in which they work (i.e., if an exempt employee is only asked to return part-time, he/she is nonetheless entitled to his/her full weekly salary); and

• If necessary, arrange for the employee to pay any portion of his/her insurance benefits that he/she did not pay during the furlough.

• Employers should determine whether they want to take the temperature of employees prior to allowing employees to enter the workplace. If an employer decides to take its employees’ temperatures, it must:

• Ensure the confidentiality of any data obtained;

• Compensate employees for the time spent in line waiting to have their temperatures checked;

• Be prepared to address the situation if an employee refuses to have his/her temperature taken; and

• Develop a protocol for when an employee’s temperature is equal to or exceeds 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Similarly, employers should decide whether they will require employees to be tested for COVID-19 before resuming on-site activities. If an employer decides to require COVID-19 testing, it must: 

• Ensure the confidentiality of any information received from the employee and/or the testing facility;

• Be prepared to address the situation if an employee refuses to be tested for COVID-19; and

• Follow the CDC’s guidance for when an employee can safely return to work if they test positive for COVID-19 (see below).  

• Employers should adopt, or otherwise follow, the CDC’s interim guidance for when an employee can safely return to work after experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or after testing positive for COVID-19.

• Employers should develop an isolation plan in the event an employee becomes sick at work.

• Employers should also develop a plan for communicating to fellow employees when an employee tests positive for COVID-19 or is symptomatic, while maintaining confidentiality of the name of the employee unless the affected employee grants permission to disclose his/her name.

• Employers should be prepared to confront a scenario where one or more employees refuse to return to work because they fear contracting COVID-19. 

• Employers should determine which employees, if any, can continue to telework and ensure that decisions on who can telework and who must be on-site are made for legitimate, non-discriminatory business reasons. 

• For those employees who are allowed to continue to work remotely, employers should:

• Provide meal breaks (and, if applicable, rest periods) as if on-site;

• Remind remote employees to review pay stubs and notify human resources (or another designated individual) immediately if their pay is not correct;

• Require the accurate recording of work time;

• Remind employees of the policy for handling and safeguarding confidential information and trade secrets;

• Publish notice that all on-site policies continue to apply, including, but not limited to, the drug and alcohol policy, sexual and protected class harassment policy and the social media policy; and

• Confirm with your workers’ compensation insurance carrier that coverage extends to work performed remotely.

• As applicable per statutory eligibility requirements, ensure eligible employees are permitted to take leave available to them such as Emergency Paid Sick Leave and/or Emergency Family Medical Leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, traditional Family and Medical Leave under the FMLA, and/or leave under the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law.  

• Employers should be prepared to engage in an interactive dialogue and respond to requests for reasonable accommodation from employees who may have underlying disabilities that makes them particularly susceptible to contracting COVID-19. 

• Develop and implement a written policy for COVID-19 safety protocols.