Terminating employee with COVID-19 for exposing coworkers

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many things about how companies operate, most employers still have formal disciplinary policies establishing ground rules for employee conduct and setting out consequences for failure to meet the expectations. If an employee still required to work in person has been exposed to the coronavirus and gotten tested without notifying her employer (and later is confirmed positive), can she be fired for violating a formal disciplinary policy prohibiting actions that pose a danger to others or jeopardize the business’s safe and efficient operations?

Knowingly exposing others to COVID-19

The short answer is a qualified yes. You may direct your employees to inform you if they have been exposed to COVID-19. To fully answer the question, one needs to know if the employee knew she was exposed to the virus, which prompted her to get tested:

• If the employee did know she was exposed but came to work anyway without knowing if she were positive, you would have ample grounds to terminate her for failing to comply with the disciplinary policy.
• On the other hand, if she was asymptomatic, not exposed, or didn’t know she was exposed to COVID-19, and got a test regardless, her coming to work before knowing the results would not, in itself, be a violation of the disciplinary policy.

What CDC guidance says