Although flu activity typically peaks in January, it is not uncommon for your workforce to start displaying signs of the sickness well before the holidays. The time to prepare for an outbreak is now. You can start by educating yourself about preventive steps you can take and planning for what you will do if an outbreak hits your workplace this winter.

Under the FLSA, if you have a bona fide sick leave policy (and some states or localities may require it), you can take deductions from an exempt employee’s salary if the sick leave bank is empty, but only in full-day increments only, not for half-days missed. If there is no bona fide sick pay policy, no deductions for illness may occur in any week during which a salaried exempt employee has worked.

Use Common Sense

Several commonsense actions can be utilized to help keep a flu epidemic from breaking out at your company. Some of these measures are very easily implemented and cost-effective. For example, you should urge your workers to thoroughly wash their hands and to use proper cough and sneeze etiquette. Keep a supply of antibacterial or waterless soap readily available. You should provide cleaning supplies for telephones, keyboards, and desks to help limit the spread of germs.

In the coming weeks, you should introduce these measures and train your workforce to take advantage of them. And, of course, encourage those workers under the weather to stay at home in order to reduce the contagion.

Take a More Proactive Approach

Depending on your business operations and the potential effect of a widespread flu outbreak among your workers, you may want to take a more aggressive approach to help limit flu cases. For example, you may want to consider suspending or changing some of your workplace policies in order to encourage workers to avoid spreading the flu. You may want to temporarily alter your paid-time-off or attendance policy to lessen the chance that sick employees will rush back to work.

Or perhaps you could permit workers to telecommute or otherwise work from home during an outbreak so that an entire department doesn’t get wiped out for days or even weeks. At the first sign of symptoms, consider sending sick workers home or providing them with protective gear, such as face masks, to help prevent the spread of germs. With the implementation of new work-from-home policies and updated remote work capabilities, this option should now be easier to implement than in recent years. Work-from-home flexibility is a tool that should be used to your advantage this time of year.

Another smart idea is educating employees about the benefits of the flu vaccine. The CDC and medical professionals urge the general public to get the flu vaccine to lessen the effects of an outbreak. You should consider suggesting and even encouraging your employees to get a flu shot this season, preferably before Thanksgiving. You can even consider bringing in a qualified medical professional to administer shots at your workplace.

The Pushback to Mandatory Vaccination

Requiring employees to get mandatory flu vaccinations is a controversial issue and one that has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Many workers may refuse to comply, although in some industries such as healthcare, mandatory flu shots are common.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have largely deferred to the CDC policies to determine the proper way to view and handle mandatory flu shots in the workplace. A risk assessment is the first step in making such a determination, and the nature of the workplace and the responsibilities of the employees will be major factors to be considered. In fact, OSHA requires you to assess each task performed by employees to determine what personal protective equipment, including hats, gloves, and other clothing, is required to perform a job safely.

Certainly, some jobs and some businesses will face far more serious problems with the flu than others, and you must be prepared to take into consideration many elements when an employee objects to the vaccination. For example, is the worker objecting to the vaccine on religious grounds? Would the vaccine aggravate another health condition or set off an allergic reaction? Does the employee simply fear needles?

According to the EEOC, an employer must interact with any employee who objects to vaccines, whether based on religious or health reasons. You need to consider possible issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and whether reasonable accommodations are necessary.

You should consider creating forms for employees to fill out if they want to request exemptions from any required inoculations based on religious, disability, or medically related reasons. Make sure you have a team available to review and resolve any such requests in a professional and expeditious manner.

Keep COVID-19 in Mind

Although most employers are happy to leave COVID-19, quarantining, and vaccinations in the past, you should remain vigilant in tracking the remnants of the pandemic. As we have seen in past winter seasons, COVID-19 can develop new and sometimes more aggressive variants and COVID is still lingering around. We would not be surprised if the number of positive COVID-19 cases sees an uptick as we head into the winter months. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the purchase of 66 million doses of COVID-19 booster in preparation for potential variants arriving in the fall and winter.

As with the flu vaccine, employers should educate employees on their options and make informed risk-assessments on vaccine mandates. Employers should track outbreaks, keep abreast of region-specific positivity rates, and provide flexibility for employees who wish to get vaccinated or wear PPE in the workplace as a precaution.

Collective Bargaining Concerns

If your employees are represented by a union, remember that you may have a duty to bargain about flu-prevention policies and vaccine mandates. Before you make any policy changes or implement any mandatory actions, make sure that you can do so under the collective bargaining agreement.