Employers are implementing gag rules so that employees can’t tell co-workers about their COVID-19 diagnosis. Is this a privacy concern or a pure breach of employee trust?
The initial COVID-19 infection waves slowed down, but countries are seeing a second wave as economies open up, and employees return to work. Workplaces are enabling the next phase of outbreaks despite safety and wellness measures in place.
This was a predictable outcome of employees’ return to work, despite implementing a range of wellness measures that involve apps for temperature screening and contact tracing, and online surveys to assess employee sentiment and comfort levels about coming back to work.
But how are employers communicating about COVID-19 cases at work? Reports find that they are asking employees not to speak about their condition with other employees. These COVID gag rulesOpens a new window end up increasing risk for all employees.
When an employee tests positive, the information is deemed private and shared with a few others who might have worked on the same shift or team. Those few who are informed are asked not to share it with others. But this seems to be giving rise to a worrying trend.
Gray Areas Emerge: Employee Privacy at the Cost of Employee Trust?
Hundreds of employers across several industries have told workers not to share information about COVID-19 cases at the workplace or raise concerns about the virus. In some cases, employers have pulled up these employees for doing so, according to workplace complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, some companies that have allegedly issued such orders are Cheesecake Factory, Amazon.com, Cargill, McDonald’s, and Target. Employees have made similar complaints against Smithfield Foods, Urban Outfitters, and General Electric. Delta Air Lines emailed their staff of 25,000 flight attendants to “please refrain from notifying other crew members on your own†about any COVID symptoms or diagnoses.
Organizations state that they followed this approach to maintain employee privacy. While this may be a genuine concern, does it apply when the entire employee population can be at risk?
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The Cost of Breaching Employee Trust
When employees report COVID-19 symptoms at work, they expect the information to be kept private. Organizations are then expected to inform employees who may be at risk without revealing the person’s identity in question. Employees may infer the identity if the group of people they worked with is small.
Employers need to maintain a fine line between the privacy of affected employees and those at risk. And this may not be the only reason employers don’t speak up. They may also be concerned about staffing issues and a stop to business yet again.
But, a lack of trust in employers can result in:
- Drop in employee productivity
- Adverse impact on mental health
- Decreased engagement levels
Employees need communication and empowerment at a time like this.
Throughout the pandemic, employees have viewed the information and content that came from their employers as credible. They have seen leaders as the most trustworthy source of information concerning the disease, regulations, and safety measures.
A recent survey by TollFreeForwarding.com measured how the pandemic has affected employees’ mental health and identified their expectations of organizational response. Of the several significant findings that emerged, two were critical:
- 37% of employees felt that their organization isn’t doing enough to support them through the crisis
- 32% wanted an increase in communication and some level of mental health support for employees.
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The Way Forward
The stats above indicate that employees assess their employers on socially conscious behavior and communication about workplace safety. Organizations’ restriction on sharing information has left employees concerned about whether their firms are legally bound to share this information.
While this is not entirely clear as of now, workers are within their rights to sue their company for negligence and endangering their health if the employer does not tell them about a positive case. In April this year, an employee’s family sued WalmartOpens a new window , alleging that it had failed to notify co-workers of a positive case.
Now, governments at local levels are also stepping in with laws that make it illegal for companies to require workers to keep health concerns private or retaliate against workers who raise those concerns.