Workplaces must adapt to new guidelines for positive employees

IMPERIAL COUNTY – The county and Imperial Irrigation District have updated their procedures regarding workplace testing for COVID-19 to ensure that they do not discriminate against employees who have tested positive in the past and have recovered.

Per guidance issued by the California Department of Public Health July 14, employers cannot require employees who have tested positive for COVID to provide negative test before they return to work. Instead, they should use symptom- or protocol-based criteria used in determining when an employee is safe to return to the workplace.

“As modifications are made to public health directives and more sectors of the economy open with adaptations,” CDPH said in a release, “it is important that employers do not use testing to impermissibly discriminate against employees who have previously tested positive for COVID-19 (such as by preventing them from resuming work after they can do so in a manner consistent with public health and safety).”

CDPH said this does not mean an employer must allow an employee who currently has COVID-19 to return to work before the employee’s infection is resolved. However, because PCR tests can remain positive long after an individual is no longer infectious, proof of a negative test should not be required prior to returning to the workplace after documented COVID infection.

IID General Manager Henry Martinez at Tuesday’s board of directors meeting explained what the updated guidance means to the district.

He said IID in the past had been asking for a release or verification from workers who had tested positive before they would be allowed to return to work.

“The health department has changed those guidelines now and are (instead) using a quarantine effort,” Martinez said. “In other words, we cannot ask for proof that they tested negative now and are back to work after quarantine.”

Martinez said this change is resulting in them trying to communicate this to employees to make sure they understand the rules have changed.

“Again, for privacy reasons we cannot demand or ask for employees to come back with a negative test before they return to work,” he said.

The updated public health guidance applies to all entities and businesses in the state, including the County of Imperial.

County Public Information Officer Linsey Dale said its policy currently requires a doctor to clear an employee who has tested positive for COVID-19 before he or she can return to work.

“At this time the

county will continue to require a doctor’s clearance for a COVID positive employee to return to work,” Dale wrote in an email.

In addition, she said, it is required that its employees sign acknowledgements that they have met the criteria of their isolation order and are symptom free.

This procedure will remain the same, Dale said. However, she added, it is likely changes will take place at the doctor’s office, and a negative test result will not be required before providing the employee with a release to return to work.

A union representing IID employees apparently is dissatisfied the new guidelines ensure employee safety. In a question to Probe, a reader claiming union affiliation said an IID

employee who was still positive for COVID-19 has been allowed to return to work.

The reader said employees and members of the community are extremely concerned that the health and safety of employees and the public at large are being put at risk under the policy.

IID’s sick-leave policies need to support public safety, the reader said, adding there is absolutely no reason why any person who is knowingly infected with coronavirus or has tested positive for COVID-19, whether they are symptomatic or not, should be allowed to communicate and further transmit the virus to other members of staff or the public in general.

In a response. IID stated the State of California’s Department of Public Health updated

its guidance needs to be adhered to and followed.

In this instance, a district employee, who previously tested positive and was cleared to return to work by their physician, did so in a manner consistent with the updated public health guidance from the state and CDC, IID Public Information Officer Robert Schettler said.

Schettler said the district continues to prioritize the safety and well-being of its employees and the public it serves and is continuing to implement stringent health and safety protocols with its employees and at all district facilities.

He added a doctor must clear an employee who has tested positive before the worker would be allowed to return.