Help - employee has Hepatitis C

Lori B · June 2002

An ee recently alerted us that he is undergoing treatment for this. We don't want to overreact, but we want to take whatever reasonable, legal steps we can to ensure the ee's safety as well as others. Any ideas/suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Don D · June 2002

If I had this come up, I think my first call would be to either the State Health Department or a physician I knew personally, probably the former. They will know precisely what your risks are, if any, and they will certainly have had experience advising employers in similar circumstances. This is one of those rare occasions where I would not waste my time calling an attorney who will naturally start dancing around all sorts of 'fair treatment' and 'confidentiality' scenarios. Not that those will not be 'front-burner' important, they will, but, first you will need medical advice from a qualified practitioner. Please post what you find out.

cebudragonlady · June 2002

From our factory's experience, get TWO types of doctors certification before the employee returns to work: one, that the employee is not contagious ; and second - that the employee is fit to go to work safely, work all day safely,and come home from work safely.And then when he/she arrives to work, WATCH them - if there is any relapse, have someone TAKE the employee home.

shendrickson · July 2002

We had a similar problem at our plant - an ee's boyfriend contracted the same thing and she was sure she might have it. She went out on FMLA and did not return until she received clearance from the doctor. We have a facility that does all of our pre-employment physicals and drug screens. If you do the same your facility can provide you with med. information about the disease which will help you in your decisions as to whether or not others need to be notified that may have come in contact with the ee. At any rate it is always better to be safe then sorry and the more information you have the better off you and your employees will be.

Scott38 · July 2002

Having experienced the same situation, I quickly learned that fear of the unknown cause the most problems among the rank and file...fortunately, the solution was an easy fix.

Like your situation,an ee working in our shop was diagnosed with hepatitis. He was very forthright about his condition with management, primarly HR. With all the precautionary steps we as HR professionals take to assure confidentiality, inevitably, the shop-floor "grapevine" knew the scoop. Trouble was, the rumors of how the disease spreads, affects, etc. were not accurate. Understandably, not knowing the truth, employees became very concerned.

To address these esculating problems, we sought the help of a health care provider. An occupational doctor with the health care clinic we use for pre-employment physicals, occupational injuries, etc. volunteered his services to come speak with our employees, and to answer any questions they may have...stressing the fact that if they had additional questions/concerns, they needed to contact their personal physician.

The group meeting (similar to a stand-up meeting)lasted approximately 30 minutes. There were good questions asked, but the greatest benefits were laying the rumors to rest and addressing legitimate ee concerns. An added bonus was the goodwill the company earned.

Keeping in mind this all occurred within a 6-hour time frame, we paid the doctor a $100.00 honorarium, employees were satisfied, and confidentiality (on the company's part) was maintained. The next day, there were no hints of rumors, nor evident talk of the subject.

As to the affected employee, he remained off for the next 7-days, obtained a full release from his doctor, and returned to work without being treated as an outcast.

Good luck....

Lori B · July 2002

Thanks to all for your messages. We checked with our EAP and they set up a conference call with a nurse. The nurse was very helpful about helping us to put things in perspective without overreacting.

She also provided an interesting tip. She stated that we should have lots of gloves and bleach in our first aid kits. If the employee had any sort of accident with some blood spill, she suggested wearing gloves and wiping up the blood with bleach saturated paper towels. The paper towels should then be flushed down the toilet. This seems to be good advice for any type of blood spill from anyone. Thankfully it doesn't happen very often.

Thanks again to all who commented. Lori

Margaret Morford · July 2002

Lori B,

I don't want to add to your problems, but what the nurse described to you is required by OSHA for any blood or bodily fluid spill. OSHA requires that you train any employee that might come in contact with blood or bodily fluids to have training. This would include anyone who renders first aid, emergency response teams, etc. It's call Blood Bourn Pathogen Training. Ask your WC carrier about it. They can tell you about it and usually will provide the training.

Just wanted to let you know so that OSHA doesn't get you!

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

DeeAnn · July 2002

I would recommend contacting the health department to ask their opinion and / or advice regarding the matter. They are the experts, not you as the employer.

Help - employee has Hepatitis C

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