5 employment policies to draft or redraft with coronavirus hindsight

If you’re like most businesses, you’re eager to reopen or return to “normal” operations as soon as possible. But before you reopen your offices and businesses—and perhaps while you have some extra time on your hands—it’s a good idea to dust off and update your employment policies to account for the new coronavirus world we now live in. Here are some of the key policies you may want to think about.

Sick leave, sick leave, sick leave

The first and most obvious are policies regarding employee sick leave, which normally appear in your employee handbook. Under a new federal law passed in response to COVID-19, many employers are now required to provide paid sick leave for employees who have the virus, have been told to self-quarantine because they may have it, or need to care for an infected individual or for children whose school or daycare is closed.

Your policy needs to be consistent with the law, as well as with new paid leave laws passed by other states, including New York. If your policy doesn’t allow for paid sick leave, you’ll need to include a coronavirus exception.

It’s also not a bad idea to revise the sick leave policy to set clear expectations regarding employees who think they may have COVID-19 or another contagious illness such as the flu. They should know not to come to work if they think they may have coronavirus (and that they’ll be paid if they don’t).

Don’t forget about other leave

You’ll also want to consider other employee leave policies, including vacation policies or personal time.