Hepatitis

T · May 2003

Is it my responsibility to question a worker if she has hepatitis?

Rumor has it that a co-worker may have hepatitis (A,B,C??)? I'm not sure of my responsibiliy. I don't think I should ask the employee about it. We are a mail forwarding service and the chances of transmittal are low?

So, should I ask or leave it alone?

Thanks.

Parabeagle · May 2003

By all means, leave it alone!!!!

HRsage · May 2003

I second that notion. Leave it alone. If it's a performance issue, address it as a performance issue and then if they inform you of any condition, then you go from there. If the ee hasn't said anything to you, leave it alone until they do.

jmpmo · May 2003

Leave it alone!!

pollypop · May 2003

Be careful! I just read this morning about a company who termed a guy for sleeping on the job, found out later that he was clinically depressed and couldn't help sleeping -- therefore, FMLA covered!

I mention this to point out that nobody said anything to that company about this guy's medical condition, but the court still found him to be covered because the company had enough information to at least suspect a serious health condition (apparently, this guy managed to work for 4 years without sleeping on the job!). I would say you also have enough information to at least suspect . . .

Hepatitis may or may not be debilitating enough to affect performance or attendance. I myself just finished an 6-month course of interferon injections combined with other amazing drugs. I was sick, lost weight, etc., but only missed 3 days of work. Other people may not tolerate the drug combo as well!

At least, before you discipline for any reason consider whether hepatitis exists and whether it could be a plausible reason for the behavior.

T · May 2003

So glad to hear "leave it alone". That's exactly what I wanted to do.

Thanks everyone.

Hepatitis

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