COVID-19: Return-to-Work Checklist

Considerations and Emerging Best Practices

Preparing the Workplace for Return & General Health and Safety

Create a company taskforce—consisting of representatives from no less than senior management, legal, HR/people, facilities,
payroll and IT departments—to oversee planning, implementation and troubleshooting of the below. The taskforce must stay
current on all federal, state and local guidance and directives regarding workplace safety (as addressed in the “Resources and
Guidance” section below), and implement measures applicable to the specific workplace.

The taskforce should first conduct a thorough hazard assessment of the physical workplace, in accordance with federal
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommendations, to identify all potential COVID-19 hazards and
formulate its plan accordingly.

Implement social distancing requirements (including as required by applicable federal, state and local orders) for the workplace
and limit large gatherings such as “all hands” meetings, employee offsites and customer events.

Increase the janitorial budget (in coordination with janitorial terms in lease and discussion/negotiation with landlord) and source
appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to provide to employees per federal, state and local guidance (in most work
environments, this will likely mean masks, at a minimum, and perhaps latex gloves for many months). Encourage employees to
wear, at a minimum, cloth face coverings in public settings outside of the office.

Educate employees and post notices regarding best practices for hygiene in the workplace. Provide employees with hand sani-
tizer and other disinfectant products at their workstations for individual use.

Conduct regular and thorough office cleanings, with a focus on high-touch surfaces and areas, such as breakrooms, time
clocks, pantries, kitchens, coffee makers, water coolers, shared printers and copiers, conference rooms, lounge areas, eleva-
tors, gyms and restrooms.
Ensure hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes are readily available and restocked regularly in all high-touch areas.

As needed, rearrange office space (e.g. eliminating, repurposing or restricting the use of employee lounges and conference
rooms; and installing physical barriers between workstations) to ensure social distancing can be maintained.

Evaluate adjustments to in-office catering and meal service. Avoid communal food trays, salad bars and the like, and consider
switching to individual sealed containers for each employee (or suspending company-sponsored catering and meals entirely).
Establish a protocol for touchless food delivery.

For communal time clocks, consider moving toward an app-based system.

Ensure HVAC and other utility systems are functional, have been properly cleaned and serviced and are in line with industry stan-
dards for your specific workplace.

Establish a protocol for deliveries and office visitors that keeps them distanced from the employee population. Consider estab-
lishing a separate defined space for messengers, food delivery and other visitors.

Formulate a plan, and convey it to employees in advance, as to which employee populations will return and when. Provide em-
ployees with reasonable notice regarding their return-to-work date in order to allow them to prepare (one to two weeks’ notice is
recommended).

If possible, encourage employees to use stairs, rather than elevators, to promote social distancing. For elevator usage, consid-
er only allowing no more than two people in the elevator at one time (otherwise adhere to building protocols regarding elevator
capacity).
Employment Policies and Employee Leave

Establish open and transparent communication with employees around COVID-19 issues (e.g. employer efforts to maintain a
safe workplace, employee rights under applicable sick and safety leave policies). Encourage employees to voice concerns and
ask questions.

Train managers and supervisors before reentry to appropriately respond to and document employee complaints regarding
health and safety. Ensure employees are not being retaliated against or treated unfairly for raising concerns and complaints.

Consider staggering employee shifts and allowing employees who utilize public transportation to commute and work during off
peak times to minimize exposure. Advise employees with private offices to keep their doors closed.

Evaluate existing sick leave and family and medical leave policies for compliance with new legislation, including the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (which will remain in effect until December 31, 2020), and any applicable state and local
sick leave or family leave laws, and revise, or temporarily amend, such policies accordingly. Carefully and methodically track
each employee’s use of statutory and company-provided leave, including the duration and reasons for the leave.

Prepare to respond to and be understanding of each individual employee’s needs. For example, employees who otherwise may
be able to return to work may have children under the age of 18 whose schools remain closed, they may be caring for an ill fami-
ly member or have other challenges that need to be addressed and/or accommodated. Encourage continued remote working in
compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines, especially for at-risk populations.
Upon request, consider renewed or amended reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities in light of COVID-19
challenges and issues, including for those employees who need to continue to telecommute. Note that an employer may not
exclude an employee from the workplace solely because the employee has a disability that the CDC has identified as placing
that employee at a higher risk of severe illness in connection with COVID-19 (e.g., chronic lung disease, heart conditions and
diabetes). Rather, an employer may do so if such disability poses a “direct threat” to the employee’s own health that cannot be
eliminated or reduced by a reasonable accommodation (which is a high standard that would likely not be met in most cases).
Employers should engage in the interactive process with any such employees and conduct an individualized assessment taking
into consideration the nature of the employee’s work, and the risk of COVID-19 exposure in the workplace, to determine appro-
priate accommodations.

Reevaluate office presence as an essential job function. Maintain flexibility in your approach for employees who may wish to
continue to telecommute for a period of time.

Establish a clear (short and/or medium-term) policy regarding limits and restrictions on business travel. Encourage disclosure of
personal travel destinations.

Prepare for an onslaught of vacation requests—prior to reentry, to avoid mass absenteeism, establish priority and an approval
policy/process (including based on previously approved vacation requests that were canceled during a shelter-in-place order).

Review office lease agreements and company insurance policies for provisions that would allow the employer to seek reimburse-
ment for expenses associated with office safety changes, especially regarding common areas shared by multiple tenants (e.g.,
installing automatic door openers, changes to the elevator system or common restrooms).
Employee Health and Testing

Establish a designated point person (or department) to whom employees should report all COVID-19-related issues. This should
be a human resources professional, or someone in a similar role, who is trained to maintain employee confidentiality.

Employers may ask all employees who are physically entering the workplace: (i) if they have COVID-19-related symptoms and
(ii) if they have been tested for COVID-19. For employees who are continuing to telecommute, employers may ask an employee
such questions if the employer has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence (e.g., if the person has a hacking cough),
that the employee might have COVID-19.

Instruct employees to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms (as updated by the CDC) self-report symptoms and con-
cerns, and to stay home when not feeling well. Employees who are not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms but who have a sick
family member at home with COVID-19 should be instructed to self-report and follow CDC guidelines.

Consider proactively inquiring whether employees are experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms through a questionnaire issued
to all employees on a non-discriminatory basis. Ensure any information obtained from such a survey is kept confidential in
compliance with federal and state privacy laws.

Design separate outreach and invite self-disclosure for at-risk employees (e.g., those who have been identified by the CDC as
being at higher risk for severe illness if they contract COVID-19, based on their age, underlying medical conditions or other
factors) and provide appropriate accommodations as addressed above.
Consider conducting employee symptom screening and/or body temperature checks, which the U.S. Equal Employment Op-
portunity Commission has opined are permissible. If doing so:
• Obtain consent and be transparent with employees (communicate test being performed and consequence of certain
results, provide privacy notice and set temperature threshold for consistency).
• Designate a testing site to preserve privacy and implement measures to protect the individual conducting the screening
(i.e., social distancing protocols, partitions and PPE).
• Minimize invasiveness (e.g., through contactless thermometers).
• Limit recordkeeping to only suspected or confirmed cases; store records separately from personnel files and treat such
records as confidential.
• Establish a procedure to transport sick employees (or those who will not be permitted to enter the office based on the
results of screenings/tests) home or to a healthcare provider.

Consider requiring or administering a COVID-19 test prior to employees returning to work, which the EEOC has opined is per-
missible, and evaluate protocols around testing procedures and reliability. Continue to monitor federal, state and local govern-
ment guidance on testing (including antibody testing), isolating and contact tracing measures. Implement employee contact
tracing initiatives as these programs become more fully developed.
Response to Confirmed and/or Suspected COVID-19 Infection and Exposure

If an employee has a confirmed case of COVID-19 (or has been exposed to someone with a confirmed case), they should not
return to the office until: (i) they have been cleared by a medical professional to do so or (ii) they have self-quarantined for a
minimum of 14 days following confirmation of their diagnosis. An employer may request a medical note releasing the employee
to return to work, but, given that healthcare providers are overwhelmed during the pandemic, this may not be practical.

For confirmed cases of COVID-19 (or exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19), employers should:
• If it has been less than seven days since the employee has been in the office, close off any areas used for prolonged pe-
riods of time and, if possible, wait at least 24 hours before cleaning the impacted areas to reduce additional exposures.
• Interview the employee to identify other company personnel with whom the employee may have had contact.
• Notify company personnel who may have been exposed (without identifying the employee by name, gender or any other
descriptor).
• Consider sending an email to the entire office site exposed stating that the company has a confirmed case of COVID-19
(again, the employer should not identify the employee by name, gender or any other descriptor).
• Consider notifying public health authorities about any confirmed employee cases of COVID-19, which is currently not
required, but may be in the future.
• Follow the most recent guidance issued by OSHA (as well as state and local occupational health and safety agencies)
to evaluate whether the employee may have contracted COVID-19 in the workplace, and if so, comply with all applicable
recordkeeping and other requirements.

If an employee is exhibiting flu-like or similar symptoms consistent with COVID-19, the company should send the employee
home and direct them to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Resources and Guidance

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): COVID-19 Resource Page
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Resources for Businesses and Employers
• U.S. Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the American Workplace
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Coronavirus and COVID-19
• White House Guidelines for Opening Up American Again
• New York State Guidance
• California State Guidance
• Washington State Guidance
• Fenwick’s COVID-19 Resource Center