HuskerBoard

Do you work at the White House by chance?

I don't see how an employer can do the right thing on this. On one hand you want to make the other employees aware so that they may take extra precautions if desired. On the other hand, you've got hippa and confidentiality issues. Technically as the boss, I am supposed to remain unaware of any health issues or concerns but we're a very small company so that rarely happens. It's a tough one but I would definitely lean towards informing the other employees. I guess I would seek permission to share from the infected person.

@JJ Husker in a hypothetical situation, a small company might know who was infected if they disappeared for two weeks, but could you say something like 'a colleague tested positive for coronavirus' and leave it at that?

I don't know the ins and outs of HIPPA but I would think/hope there's some clause in there about infectious diseases/viruses. :lol:

Doesn't HIPPA apply only to health care providers?  I don't think employers are obligated to keep medical conditions secret.  I could be wrong though.  

@NUance it's been a few years since I offered health insurance as a benefit but it was definitely a thing that we had to comply with as an employer. However, I'm not sure if it applies if we are not providing health insurance  :dunno

If you, as an employer, offer health insurance, your collecting information from employees and passing it on to the insurance company is acting on behalf of the insurance company.   I think that would be a different situation than if someone called in sick.  But like I said, I could be wrong about this.