New Michigan order tightens restrictions for COVID-19 sick days

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently signed Executive Order (EO) 2020-172 to protect employees from retaliation for missing work because of COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosis, or exposure. In a move that helps employers, the order tightens the restrictions on the symptoms necessary for employees to stay home without facing repercussions from the company.

What new EO says

A previous order (EO-166) allowed people to stay home and barred employers from disciplining them if they had any of the following symptoms: sore throat, fever, a new uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, new onset of a severe headache, or a new loss of taste or smell. EO-172 is more restrictive:

• To stay home from work under the new order, employees must have a fever, uncontrolled cough, or shortness of breath or at least two of the following symptoms: loss of taste or smell, muscle aches, sore throat, severe headache, diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain.
• More important, they can’t stay home from work without employer repercussions if any of the symptoms can be explained by a known medical or physical condition.

The latter point is a new qualifier and should work to reduce the number of employees staying home from their places of employment.