640 OSHA COVID-19 Plan: 1910.50 - Healthcare Requirements

Health Screening and Medical Management

Medical Removal From the Workplace

1. If you know an employee is COVID-19 positive (i.e., confirmed positive test for, or has been diagnosed by a licensed healthcare provider with, COVID-19), immediately remove that employee from work and keep the employee removed until they meet your return-to-work criteria based on guidance from a licensed healthcare provider (LHP) or CDC's Isolation Guidance.

2. If the employee tells you that they are suspected by a LHP of having COVID-19, or experiencing loss of taste and/or smell with no other explanation or fever (≥100.4° F) and new unexplained cough associated with shortness of breath, immediately remove that employee and either:

• Keep the employee removed until they meet your return-to-work criteria; or
• Keep the employee removed and provide a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at no cost to the employee.
• If the test results are negative, the employee may return to work immediately.
• If the test results are positive, the employee must be removed until they meet your return-to-work criteria.
• If the employee refuses to take the PCR test, continue to keep the employee removed from the workplace. You are not obligated to provide medical removal protection benefits. Absent undue hardship, you must make reasonable accommodations for employees who cannot take the test for religious or disability-related medical reasons.

Note: The partial symptom list (loss of taste and/or smell with no other explanation or fever (≥100.4° F) and new unexplained cough associated with shortness of breath) informs the employer of the minimum requirements for compliance. The full list of COVID-19 symptoms provided by CDC includes additional symptoms not listed in this section. You may choose to remove or test employees with additional symptoms from the CDC list, or refer the employees to a LHP.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.