Contagious Employee - Please Help

Lori1 · November 2002

I was approached today by one of the office managers who made the following comment. "One of my employee's brother has a highly contagious version of strep throat and the employee is here today,can I send her home? I said, of course she could send her home, but she would have to pay her for the day. (This employee did not want to go home). The manager told me that the company was not responsible for paying this person for the day. I disagreed with her. I don't think there is a labor law stating that we have to pay her, but the company is sending an employee home, who does not want to leave. Does anyone have an answer. Thanks

kwelzel · November 2002

I don't think it's a matter of legal...it's a matter of cost, and doing what's right. If the sick employee stays and works and contaminates the entire office, and other employees get sick...what have you gained. I say, let her go home with pay for the first day, use sick time if available for any more days, and if it's more than 3 days, she should bring a Dr's release that she's not contagious and fit for work.

Balloonman · November 2002

Let's see, we have an employee that has a sick relative, and the supervisor wants to send them home. What happens when the supervisor's children have strep will he be okay with being sent home without pay?

I am glad the employee did not want to go home. But see what you do to a good employee by sending them home because their brother is sick, and then not pay them! You will do more harm to your work environment than anything else. If I am the employee I show up every day, and had better get paid. I would not use up my sick leave because a supervisor thinks they are a doctor when I might actually need it down the road.

While I understand the supervisor's concern, someone with a cold could actually infect more people than someone with strep in the office.

Oh well there goes my 2 cents worth.

Dennis

ritaanz · November 2002

My understanding is that the employee is not contagious but her brother is. Why on earth would the office manager want to send home a healthy employee? Is he a hypochondriac? If he doesn't want to be exposed to this individual, maybe he should go home. x:-)

Whatever · November 2002

If the employee is healthy, you are setting a dangerous precedence by sending them home with pay. What happens when the next employee comes in and says they have a relative with a contagious disease. Furthermore, it doesn't make monetary sense to pay a healthy worker not to work. Finally, how wonderful to have an employee that wants to work.

Lori B · November 2002

Morale issues aside, was the ee salaried and exempt from OT? If so, you just bought a full day of pay by sending them home.

Holly · November 2002

Where did this supervisor do his/her residency? And when did the supervisor get the lab results showing that the employee had Strep???

Why would you punish an employee who wants to work? Maybe the supervisor has other "issues" with this employee?

Crout · November 2002

The stupidity of the Office Manager aside, (either stupid or engaged in some sort of harassment) if the employee is non-exempt I suppose you could send him/her home, but you would have to pay for the time worked that day. If the employee is exempt, you could send him/her home, but you would still have to pay full salary

Paul in Cannon Beach · November 2002

This reminds me of the movie "Minority Report" where they arrest people for crimes they have not YET committed.

Also, by sending the poor guy home you might be forcing him into greater exposure with the sick brother. Could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Next we could see a new PRE-FMLA leave law for people who are not sick yet but know a guy who is sick and so they need to take leave.

Paul

ritaanz · November 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-13-02 AT 03:54PM (CST)[/font][p]Paul, it's getting scary. I actually understood everything you wrote. (Sans the Haiku)

Lori1 · November 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-14-02 AT 08:42AM (CST)[/font][p]The employee was an hourly employee not a salaried employee. I felt that this employee should be paid for the day because she came to work, was not ill and happened to make the comment to her supervisor that her brother had a highly contagious form of Strep and was very ill. It was the supervisor's choice to send the employee home, not the employees. Thanks for all your responses and yes, she did get paid for the full day.

Don D · November 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-14-02 AT 10:06AM (CST)[/font][p]I like the question about where the manager did his residency. And it is odd that Ritaanz understood everything Paul said. His insight about FMLA for expected illness is terrific. Who said the person who was sent home lives with the sick brother? If she was sent home with pay for the day, did she return with a doctor's note stating her brother was no longer ill? If not, when does she get to return? If she's not returned until he is well, she has been suspended without pay for no sound reason, in fact for a stupid reason. If she was well at work and the company sent her home, thereby causing her illness, will she have a work related claim of some sort? Are you sending home all the parents whose children have pinkeye, chicken pox, measels, mumps, the trots? I think the supervisor/manager should return to production and let Human Resources make decisions like this one.

Contagious Employee - Please Help

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