Flu & COVID & RSV...Oh My!

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Sickness in the Workplace

With approximately 300,000 new cases per day in the US and almost 2,000 people dying each day, COVID-19 is evolving into an endemic. And, with highly-contagious emerging variants, it is still considered a public health emergency in some areas.

An estimated 16 million employees have long COVID with an estimated 2 to 4 million people leaving the workforce due to long COVID which accounts for 20-40% of the labor shortage.

Additionally, many officials are declaring pediatric RSV a public health emergency given the rising numbers of children becoming sick and being hospitalized due to the infection. Added to that, we are seeing the annual winter impact of influenza with millions of people already infected and hundreds of thousands hospitalized. Employers need to know their legal and practical responsibilities to prepare for employees who become sick or have to care for a family member who becomes ill.

What Employers Can Do:

Several states still have COVID-19-related pay, disability pay, and/or protections for time off due to covered purposes, some of which have been extended to cover RSV and the flu.

Review the possibilities of remote work options and prepare for coverage if someone needs to miss time out of the workplace.
Offer cleaning and sanitizing products and create more open spaces to reduce exposure in the workplace.
Support and encourage employees and their families to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu, both of which have been shown to reduce the number of cases and severity of illness.

Help When You Need It!
Affinity HR Group can help you develop sick leave policies and navigate the protections for time off in your state. Connect with us at hello @AffinityHRGroup.com or 877-660-6400 to learn more.

The Monday HR Minute, brought to you by Affinity HR Group, is designed to provide you with practical, applicable human resources and management advice and information. We believe that by dedicating just a few minutes a week to thinking about people management practices, business owners and managers can make enormous strides in improving workplace performance.

Affinity HR Group is a full service human resources consulting firm that specializes in advising small and medium-sized enterprises. Our services include recruiting and selection, HR policies and compliance, ad hoc HR support, compensation and performance management, and training and development. We are an endorsed HR partner of a number of leading national trade associations and offer free initial consultations and discounted services to their member companies.
Email us at contact@affinityhrgroup.com or call 877-660-6400.

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This e-mail may contain general information about legal matters. Affinity HR Group does not provide legal counsel. The information provided should not be considered legal advice and should not be relied on as an alternative to legal advice from your attorney or other professional legal services provider. If you have any specific questions about this content or any legal matter you should consult your attorney or other professional legal services provider.