THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE, MAY 2, 2009
By Jack Katzanek
A scenario where half the staff is home with the flu would be distressing for a company that has already trimmed a quarter of the work force because of a severe recession.
But workers need to assess whether they're well enough to do their jobs without infecting others and without worrying about how an absence might affect their long-term job status, employment experts say. That it is complicated, however, by the fact that millions of California workers are not paid when they call in sick.
And employers and workplace supervisors not only need to use common sense when assessing whether someone is well enough to work, but they also need to remember the law requires them to provide a workplace that is not a health risk.
Many offices and factories in Inland Southern California are already doing business with fewer workers because of the dour economic situation.
Senior managers at San Bernardino-based Stater Bros. Markets, the Inland area's largest private-sector employer, had a meeting on the issue, and the staff has been reminded about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Employees are being urged to wash their hands several times a day, Jack Brown, chairman and chief executive officer said.
"Supervisors have to remind everyone that they have sick leave and insurance to pay medical expenses," he said. "My concern is the employers that don't offer either of those."
Working While Sick
On Tuesday, Dr. Eric Frykman, Riverside County's public health officer, urged the Board of Supervisors to be mindful of flu symptoms. He said employers should strongly recommend that sick employees stay home and recover rather than go to work and risk infecting co-workers and spreading the disease.
A recent study by Office Team, a placement agency that specializes in top administrators, found that three-quarters of workers show up for work when they're feeling sick, including 45 percent who say they do it very frequently. Office Team polled 522 adult workers at large national firms several months before the swine flu outbreak.
"There certainly is a lot of anxiety in the work force about taking time off for sick leave or even vacation. Someone may decide that person is not pulling his or her weight," said David Stewart, dean of the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCR. "But that kind of behavior is unhealthy for an organization."
Stewart said businesses are leaner than they were a few years ago.
"But there's a point where you have to look past productivity," Stewart said.
A report released last year by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the health advocacy group Human Impact Partners found that about 5.4 million people in California do not get paid when they call in sick. The overwhelming majority of these people hold low-paying jobs.
Sending Workers Home
Matt Bartosiak, senior staff consultant for The Employers Group, a Los Angeles-based human resources consulting firm, said he expects many employees will come to work sick.
"It's not so much on layoff fears," he said. "Their most immediate concern is they need the money."
But a boss has to decide that someone might be too sick to work and send that person home, or insist he or she be cleared by a doctor. In fact, Bartosiak said, the employer is legally obligated to take steps such as those.
"Employers do have a responsibility under OSHA to provide a safe workplace," Bartosiak said.
Bill Floyd, an attorney who practices employment law for the Riverside-based firm Best Best & Krieger, agrees that an employer could be liable in those situations.
Also, Floyd said a supervisor should be aware of an employee who has been home caring for a sick family member or just returned from Mexico.
"It's reasonable for an employer to have some sort of clearance" in those situations, said Floyd, who added that he has fielded several calls from clients asking those questions in the last few days. "But, if he sent home every employee with a sniffle, that would be a bit of an overreaction."
Taking Action
Kathie Muniz, 39, a training officer with the Riverside County District Attorney's office, said a co-worker bought hand sanitizers and tissues for everyone, and she said she and her fellow staffers told a worker who was sick to take two days off.
"We're trying to be proactive and take any action we can on our own," Muniz said.
Marcie Valentine, 40, said her young son asked if he has to wear a mask. Valentine, who works for Riverside County's human resources office, told him that's an overreaction.
Her co-worker, Annie Norwood, 48, said any kind of flu is dangerous for older people and those with weak immune systems.
"For the rest of us, whether we feel well enough to go to work is just a matter of common sense," she said.
Press-Enterprise reporter Lora Hines contributed to this report. Reach Jack Katzanek at (951) 368-9553 or at jkatzanek@PE.com
