Health Screening and Medical Management
Medical Removal Protection Benefits
When you allow an employee to work remotely or in isolation, continue to pay the employee the same regular pay and benefits until the employee meets the return to work criteria.
Employers with 10 or fewer employees are not required to comply with paragraphs 4 or 5 below. When you remove an employee under this section:
- If you have more than 10 employees, continue to provide the benefits to which the employee is normally entitled and must also pay the employee the same regular pay the employee would have received had the employee not been absent from work, up to $1,400 per week, until the employee meets the return to work criteria specified in this section.
- If you have fewer than 500 employees, pay the employee up to the $1,400 per week cap but, beginning in the third week of an employee’s removal, the amount is reduced to only two-thirds of the same regular pay the employee would have received had the employee not been absent from work, up to $200 per day ($1,000 per week in most cases).
- If you have more than 10 employees, your payment obligation is reduced by the amount of compensation that the employee receives from any other source, such as a publicly or employer-funded compensation program (e.g., paid sick leave, administrative leave), for earnings lost during the period of removal or any additional source of income the employee receives that is made possible by virtue of the employee’s removal.
Whenever an employee returns to the workplace after a COVID-19-related workplace removal, that employee must not suffer any adverse action as a result of that removal from the workplace and must maintain all employee rights and benefits, including the employee's right to their former job status, as if the employee had not been removed.
Return to Work
You must make decisions regarding an employee's return to work after a COVID-19-related workplace removal in accordance with guidance from a LHP or CDC's Isolation Guidance; and CDC's Return to Work Healthcare Guidance.
Note to paragraph (l): OSHA recognizes that CDC’s “Strategies to Mitigate Healthcare Personnel Staffing Shortages” allows elimination of quarantine for certain healthcare workers, but only as a last resort, if the workers' absence would mean there are no longer enough staff to provide safe patient care, specific other amelioration strategies have already been tried, patients have been notified, and workers are utilizing additional PPE at all times.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-4. Kevin was removed from work after testing positive for COVID-19. He has been working remotely and has continued to receive his regular pay. When should Kevin be allowed to return to work?
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