Updated memo provides guidance to employers for recording work-related COVID-19 cases
On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an updated memorandum providing guidance to employers for recording work-related COVID-19 cases. The memo goes into effect on May 26, 2020.
To determine if a COVID-19 illness was contracted at work, Compliance Safety and Health Officers should take into account all reasonably available evidence, including:
- If several cases develop among workers who work closely together and there is no alternative explanation;
- If the illness is contracted shortly after lengthy, close exposure to a particular customer or coworker who has a confirmed case of COVID-19 and there is no alternative explanation;
- If the worker’s job duties include having frequent, close exposure to the general public in a locality with ongoing community transmission and there is no alternative explanation; or
- If the worker, outside the workplace, closely and frequently associates with someone (e.g., a family member, significant other, or close friend) who (1) has COVID-19; (2) is not a coworker, and (3) exposes the employee during the period in which the individual is likely infectious.
The full memo can be found here.
