Recently, we’ve received many inquiries related to employee personal travel and COVID. We have reached out to legal counsel and are providing some insight for your use, if you choose.

We spoke to the team at Dinsmore and Shohl LLP:

• You can generally have a Company policy requiring precautions be taken after non-essential work travel (such as quarantine, remote work or a negative test result). Because the COVID data is changing daily, we have prepared policies, whereby instead of listing specific regions or states, employees must quarantine or take a test if they have travelled to a region with a positivity rate of 10% or higher.
• To support this you can look at the data tracker through the CDC that provides percentage ranges for infection.

Based upon Dinsmore’s response, we recommend that if an employee travels to any state or territory that exceeds a 10% infection rate, the employee should quarantine for 14 days. That same employee, most likely, will be eligible for the EPSL (Emergency Paid Sick Leave) for 14 days, under the FFCRA.  This act is still in effect through December 31, 2020.

The CDC outlines steps in a Q&A format found HERE.

Currently the State of Michigan FAQ document (p. 16) states that anyone returning from out of state should contact the health department and follow up with them.

If you have questions or concerns regarding how to deal with employees travel, feel free to EMAIL US and we can help guide you. Visit our HR Consulting Page if you have other needs or concerns.