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The symptoms that people may experience from Coronavirus include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. Severe cases may result in pneumonia, kidney failure and death. The symptoms may appear within 2-14 days after exposure and some infected individuals have shown little or no symptoms.

The CDC announced that if a national response is required to a widespread Coronavirus outbreak they will follow a 2017 plan for a similarly novel flu pandemic. The plan, if implemented will trigger school and business closures, travel restrictions on outbreak regions and quarantines of infected patients. There is no native immunity or vaccine in place for Coronavirus at this time.

Standard precautions are recommended and include:

• 1) Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
  • a. If soap is not available, use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol content
• 2) Disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces regularly
• 3) Avoid close contact with those who are sick
• 4) Stay at home when sick

What Should Employers Do?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to provide their employees with work and a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause the death or serious physical harm to employees.” [General Duty Clause, U.S.C. Section 654, 5(a)1] This means an employer has an affirmative duty to protect employees from a pandemic virus. The Federal Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) expanded coverage to the public sector.

The CDC has issued warnings against any non-essential travel to affected areas, such as China or Korea. It is advised to replace in-person meetings with video conferences. Employers should not force their employees to travel to affected areas at this time to avoid violating the General Duties clause.

For employees returning from affected areas, employers are allowed to screen them for fever and take appropriate action if they are displaying a fever or other symptoms of infection. Laws prohibiting disability discrimination do not apply if the employer acts reasonably to prevent the possibility that an employee might become disabled in the future or infect co-workers. An employer can inquire about disabilities or require medical testing if:

• 1. The exam is job-related per business necessity or,
• 2. The employee reasonably poses a direct threat to health or safety

It is permissible to require employees exhibiting symptoms, or returning from an affected area, to provide a note from a physician clearing them as fit to return to work before allowing the employee back in the workplace.

Employers should require that the physician’s note specifically addresses the Coronavirus threat, but should not request that the note provide a medical diagnosis. The note should simply state that the doctor does not consider the employee to be a threat to the health and safety of the workplace, as relates to the Coronavirus.

Employers are also allowed to restrict employees who are displaying any symptoms consistent with a contagious illness to not report to the workplace. Many businesses have already established this type of policy for the flu season. It is a good practice to remind employees of the company policy before the flu season.

The CDC has advised that employers immediately send home any employees displaying symptoms at work. Employees sent home should not return until they have had 24 hours without a fever (without using fever-reducing medications), or after their symptoms have improved if they were experiencing flu-like symptoms (at least four to five days after flu symptoms started).

Employers need to make use of their rights to ensure a safe workplace, as failing to do so could result in employees organizing together and initiating a strike in protest working conditions and probably protest working conditions when there is a Coronavirus threat. Employers should make no attempt to forbid a strike, as they could be subject to a claim under the National Labor Relations Act.

It is important for employers to avoid singling out employees because of their ethnicity. While employers can require someone returning from an affected area such as China (or those who have been in close contact with someone who has recently been in an affected area), or to produce a doctor’s note to return to work, it is illegal to make such requirements solely based on ethnicity. Asian employees who have not recently visited an affected area or been in close contact with someone who recently been in an affected area should only be required to go home or produce a doctor’s not to return to work if they have been displaying symptoms.

Employers are required to keep their employees’ medical information confidential. They should not disclose to other employees those who are, or even are believed to be infected. Employees rights of privacy must be respected. Employers can face civil liability or criminal penalties under HIPAA for disclosing protected information. An exception does exist and is permissible to disclosing an employee’s medical information if there is a clear risk of an employee endangering the health or safety of other employees.

Some employees may be eligible for job protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and job protection and benefits under Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers are required to provide employees with notice of their rights, and if the employee is absent for an extended period of time for a serious health condition, the employer may be required to return the employee to his job, or an equivalent position, upon return if the employee meets certain qualifications (e.g., the employee has been with the employer for at least 12 months). Some employees may be eligible to use Family and Medical Leave job protection, or benefits, to care for a sick family member as well.

Employees are not allowed to stay home to avoid getting sick (except those with pre-existing conditions that may worsen). In some states, employees can have time off to care for themselves or a family member, or if schools close, or it there is a public emergency.

In the event of a pandemic virus outbreak, employers should consider encouraging sick employees to stay at or work from home, encourage frequent hand washing, provide hand sanitizer, disinfect surfaces and eating areas, and provide protective equipment and clothing to employees exposed to environmental hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to comply with Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements for all illnesses and injuries and this includes Coronavirus.

Employers should also communicate official government agency information to their employers, and refrain from communicating medical opinions from non-government sources. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has created a guide for employers to follow which contains practices employers should follow to ensure compliance with employment law during, or in preparation for pandemics. The guide also provides several resources for understanding employer obligations accommodating sick or disabled employees.

The Coronavirus situation may change, resulting in new requirements for employers. Employers should stay informed to any changes that are announced as a result of the increase in coronavirus confirmations.

Resources:

Washington State Department of Health - https://www.doh.wa.gov/
Center for Disease Control - https://www.cdc.gov/
Center for Disease Control – Business Readiness Guide – https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/guidance-business-response.html?ecid=r_emp_zz_cce_e_am_zz_zz_zz_0320

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By design, the short sessions are intended to address any supplemental budget appropriations and minor amounts of legislation. The longer sessions occur every other year as the budget for the state is done on a biennial basis.

Considering the process for reviewing and voting on bills is quite extensive for even the “long” sessions of odd-numbered years (an outline of the basic bill process is available on the WA Legislature website), it becomes especially hectic during a short session.

During short sessions, lawmakers can also be harried by a variety of agendas and requests from municipalities, associations, colleges, unions, and special interest groups. Whether expressed via lobbyists, public campaigns, or media attention, legislators are inundated with more requests than they can address.

Groups of all types have funding requests and legal concerns that they will be sharing with legislators. These requests can be for direct monetary funding of millions of dollars for an educational facility, or for a simple reclassification of a product to be sold in Washington State.

While it is often the case during short sessions corresponding with major election years that politicians refrain from taking any significant legislative action, this can lead to controversial measures being added to other minor bills at the last minute. Many of these measures added at the last minute create huge controversies after they are passed.

Simply reminding representatives that their constituents are paying attention to their actions, and are concerned about all of the legislation being passed in Olympia, can save businesses considerable expenses that can result from the most seemingly insignificant measures being added to bills.

Having advocacy in Olympia for the concerns of the small business is important, but without a pressing sense of accountability placed on lawmakers by individual citizens, it is not as effective as it can be. Contacting your representatives in the legislature on a regular basis is the best way to not only reinforce this sense of accountability, but is also a great way to let lawmakers know that there are citizens who are aware of even the smaller issues affecting business.

The District Finder from the Legislature’s website allows you to determine your legislative district and find your district’s representatives in the House and Senate. Contact information for each representative is available so you can contact yours by phone, letter, or email. District Finder

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Not only have politicians expanded the disparity between the words they speak and the laws they pass, but the media’s disinterest in the practical effects of legislation has increased as well to keep the average citizen largely ignorant of the measures currently being debated in their state.

Each year, over 170,000 measures are considered in state legislatures across the US. Only 30,000 of those measures become law, which is reflected in the roughly 15% success rate of submitted bills passing into law. With each state introducing thousands of measures and amendments every two years, there are tens of thousands of pages of text that are produced. Inconsistent terminology makes navigating through this enormous amount of information challenging, as does the language used by each state for the various stages of its legislative process.

The first step to keeping track of your state legislature is to find a resource to let you know when your legislature is in session. For the regular (long and short) sessions, this should be a fixed date range that will be announced before the beginning of the year. These regular sessions will have set “cut-off” dates by which certain actions on a bill must be taken. The schedule for the WA State Legislature session is available here.) Special sessions, which can last for just a few days, can be announced at any time, and usually take place to address emergency budget or natural disaster issues. The regular sessions of many states can be extremely short (The short session for Washington State’s legislature is only 60 days), and this limited time has compelled state legislatures to move at a much faster pace than Congress does in D.C. This rapid movement on some legislation is why tracking bills at the state level is particularly important. States will generally pass over 500 times as many bills and resolutions as Congress passes each year.

The bills and resolutions that are passed represent a small speck of sand in a vast dust storm of bills introduced that go nowhere. Some of these bills are introduced with the knowledge that they will never be passed, but they are introduced to cause controversy or gain exposure for a particular cause or politician supporting them. Becoming familiar with the legislative process can help reduce the confusion this flurry of prospective bills and resolutions can cause.

The future of many bills can become apparent during the hearing process, which is usually one of the first stages a bill must pass. The number of hearings held and witnesses called, as well as statements made by lawmakers can usually inform an accurate prediction of a bill’s chances of being passed.

Whether a bill begins to get lawmakers signing on as co-sponsors can also be an indicator of its future. Both the number of co-sponsors a bill has, and the partisan makeup of the co-sponsors can be important to consider.

Various parties may release analyses of the bill, which can clarify, ignore, or exacerbate confusing language in the bill. If a bill has controversial elements, whether an analysis addresses or avoids discussing them can be revealing. Both the majority and minority staffs can release analyses, as can government agencies or the governor’s office. These analyses can provide some insight as to the support a bill has, or if there may be misleading language in a bill’s digest.

The markup stage is also informative to watch, as provisions are proposed and added to increase support for a bill. The number of amendments allowed, and the extent of those amendments can indicate if a bill is gaining or losing momentum along its path through the legislature. During this stage, there is often much negotiation being made, with accurate voting intentions already established, or in some cases predicated on certain provisions being made to the bill.

Most states have online bill tracking websites, which are free to use, and are relatively simple when tracking with the bill number. The Washington State Legislature website has a bill tracker which allows bills to be searched by number, topic, sponsor, bill text, or status. The website has several other resources for monitoring floor activity, reading committee reports, and simply learning how to most effectively participate in the legislative process.

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This unexpected volume of applications is causing delays in processing and the payout of benefits. Originally, applicants had been told that their claims would be processed in two weeks, but currently claims are expected to take over 30 days to process. While the underestimation of claim volume has raised some concerns as to whether there will be sufficient funds to pay out those claims, the Washington Employment Security Department has made no statement regarding the economic health of the program funds.

To help handle delays caused by the high volume of applications, the Washington Employment Security Department is adding 35 new positions, but is not providing any estimates for expected claim-processing times. The department advises applicants to visit the state’s Paid Leave website, which will provide applicants with an overview of the status of their application, along with a rough estimate of how long the process will take.

According to the Employment Services Department, benefits will be paid retroactively to the applicant’s date of leave, not the date the application was approved.

The program allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child, or a serious medical condition of themselves or a family member. Additional time is allowed for a combination of these, or for serious health conditions related to pregnancy.

During 2019, employees and employers have paid into the program to fund benefits that would become available at the beginning of 2020. Approximately 0.4 percent of an employee’s wage is paid into the program, with about two-thirds being paid by the employee, and a third being paid by the employer. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not required to pay this premium, but must still collect the employee’s portion and pay it to the Employment Security Department. (Other states have set this premium at over 0.6 percent. California and Rhode Island have set their premiums at 1 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, with premiums being paid fully by the employee.)

3,000 individuals have been approved to receive Paid Family Medical Leave benefits in Washington State during the first six weeks of the program.

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