The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- 42 U.S.C. 12112(d), 12113(b); 29 C.F.R. 1630.2(r), 1630.14, 1630.15(b)(2)
- Issued
- 2020-09-08 Sept. 8, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-09-08
- End
- superseded by the Dec. 16, 2020 update (Ex. DUT-FED-070) (read as 2020-12-16)
- In force
- Sept. 8, 2020 to Dec. 16, 2020
- Quarters
- 2020 Q32020 Q4
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesQuarantine and isolation
- Addressees
- employers with 15 or more employees (ADA); federal agencies (Rehabilitation Act)
- Character
- agency guidance permissive
- Collection
- Standing duties: Federal layer DUT-FED
Operative words
A.3. When may an ADA-covered employer take the body temperature of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic? Generally, measuring an employee's body temperature is a medical examination. Because the CDC and state/local health authorities have acknowledged community spread of COVID-19 and issued attendant precautions, employers may measure employees' body temperature.... an individual with the virus will pose a direct threat to the health of others. Therefore an employer may choose to administer COVID-19 testing to employees before initially permitting them to enter the workplace... An employer may require employees to wear protective gear (for example, masks and gloves) and observe infection control practices (for example, regular hand washing and social distancing protocols).
Penalty
none; the document defines what the ADA permits
What it required
Permissive: employers 'may' screen, take temperatures, test, exclude symptomatic employees and require protective gear because COVID-19 poses a direct threat; the ADA therefore stood aside while the general duty clause, the CMS conditions and the State orders compelled the screening. Character as recorded: agency_guidance_permissive (the EEOC's verbs are 'may'; the direct-threat finding removes the ADA barrier to screening).
Retrieval noteThe library's AGY-FED-LABOR-IMMIGRATION-081, titled as the Mar. 17, 2020 version, is in fact the May 15, 2023 posting (its text so states); the period versions are Exs. DUT-FED-030, -070 and -071.