The Biden administration has issued guidelines for agencies to test their employees for COVID-19, indicating when widespread testing is appropriate and confirming that federal offices can mandate employee testing.
Federal employees who have a testing requirement to enter and refuse their workplace could face “ consequences, ” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, although it did not specify what those might look like, saying that all facets of the testing policy were to individual agencies. . CDC issued the guidance in response to an executive order from President Biden, stressing that it consisted of strategies for agencies to consider rather than policy requirements.
CDC noted that the Americans with Disabilities Act allows employer mandatory testing of employees if it is “work-related and consistent with business necessity,” and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found it acceptable to make COVID-19 testing a condition to enter a workplace. Agencies must have an employee’s permission to conduct a test and determine in advance what the consequences will be for those who decline. CDC encouraged federal agencies to “consider providing alternatives that are feasible and appropriate” for employees who disagree with testing, such as reassigning tasks that can be performed remotely.
Agencies have multiple options when following a testing strategy. A less aggressive approach would allow them to test only workers who show symptoms or have had a known exposure to someone with COVID-19. Agencies must determine in advance where they will send employees for testing, how they will cover costs, their plans for reporting results to local health departments, how they will conduct contact tracking, and their customized work plans if an outbreak occurs. Any worker exposed on the job should get a test at an appropriate time and place and at no personal expense, the CDC said.
Some federal offices should set up screening tests, which will most likely take place at regular intervals, and use antigen tests with faster results. All workers in a workplace with such a strategy, even those without symptoms or exposures, would be subjected to the tests. Federal offices should consider the approach if they are located in areas of wide dispersion in the community or without easy access to medical care, or if their employees have frequent contact with the public, physical distance is difficult, continuity of operations particularly it is critical whether their workforce is considered to be at high risk of serious illness from the virus. Agencies setting up on-site testing capabilities must obtain an exemption from the Food and Drug Administration.
CDC stressed that any testing strategy should complement, not replace, existing COVID-19 protocols. The Office of Management and Budget issued revised agency pandemic requirements in January, including mask mandates in federal offices and ensuring they do not exceed 25% capacity in areas of wide dispersion in the community. The General Services Administration has previously issued guidelines for reorganizing federal buildings to make them safer for reopening during the pandemic. A task force Biden set up to oversee the health and safety of the federal workforce during the pandemic instructed agencies to pursue discipline for employees who refuse to wear masks in their workplaces.
CDC recommended a broader testing strategy for specific workforce, such as air traffic controllers, people in communal living areas such as wildfire fighters, and those most critical to government operations. It noted that the counseling was not intended for FBIs in health care, long-term care facilities, or in prisons or detention centers. It also declined to comment on how agency-issued tests could be funded.
Agencies are responsible for providing information to their employees about the tests they perform, including the manufacturer, type, purpose, who pays for it, how they will receive the results, and who else will see results. CDC encouraged agencies to provide flexible, non-punitive sick leave and other “supportive policies” to all employees who are asked to isolate. Agencies should continue to ask screening questions of employees who report to their workplace, perform temperature checks, improve ventilation, demand masks and take physical distance measures.
While the guidelines did not need to be tested by federal agencies, CDC noted that one benefit of such an approach would allow them to reduce employee quarantines to below the recommended 14 days. Negative post-exposure tests could allow workers to return to work more quickly.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have tested positive for COVID-19, but securing those tests was sometimes difficult for agencies or workers. The Veterans Affairs department had to roll back a statement last year that any employee who wanted a test could get one after workers across the country contested it. Like the general American public, the federal workforce is increasingly being vaccinated against COVID-19. Five federal agencies have been assigned direct doses to vaccinate their employees – and in some cases to help vaccinate other federal workers – and the Biden government recently set up a vaccination site in Maryland specifically for federal employees. While employees at some agencies expressed concern that their agencies were struggling to get vaccinations, all American adults across the country are now eligible to apply for a vaccination appointment.