COVID Isolation and Workplace Absence - Who Pays?
With schools reopening, there are already lots of kids being isolated on a 'close contact' basis - leaving parents and others, and their employers, in a situation of wondering whether the contacts of those children should also be isolating. But the financial concerns of self-isolation, for both employers and employees, are serious and legitimate. Employees don't want to stay home from work if it means that they don't get paid; employers are legitimately reluctant to pay employees who are unable to perform work. Before we get into the nuts and bolts here, a few preliminary notes: There's no case law on any of this. I can extrapolate reasonable conclusions based on existing principles, but COVID may well change how these principles are interpreted and applied, so it's hard to say anything with confidence. The below assumes that no sick benefits or short-term disability benefits are engaged. There may be scenarios where that changes the analysis, but there's go