Balancing safety and return to work: discrimination in age of COVID-19

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 42% of the U.S. workforce now works from home, and 33% of workers are unemployed. Many employers are eager to get their current employees back to the office and hire new ones, but they want to make sure they do it in a safe manner. Employers need to balance employee safety, however, with current employment regulations. How can you safely bring employees back to the office without practicing immunity discrimination?

What is immunity discrimination?

Some 20% of COVID-19-positive cases were asymptomatic, according to a study published by PLOS Medicine, a nonprofit journal emphasizing work that advances clinical practice, health policy, or pathophysiological understanding to benefit health. As a result, it may be difficult for you to determine who can safely return to the workplace. One method you may be considering is to require employees to take antibody tests to determine if they're “immune” from the virus. If you're considering the test, beware of immunity discrimination.

"Immunity discrimination" happens when employers prefer job applicants and employees who have already contracted COVID-19. This phenomenon is caused by a belief that once people have the virus, they're unlikely to be infected again and start an outbreak at the workplace. Also, they are less likely to need time off from work to recover from a future infection and can travel and work with others on long-term projects.

Immunity discrimination can arise in various stages of the employment process: