Co-worker has the flu. Can she be barred from the office?

October 15, 2008 3:40 PM

Is there a way to force a sick and contagious co-worker to stay home?

I realize not many people have paid sick days and those who do tend to be reluctant to use them. But one co-worker has been sneezing and coughing up a storm, which effectively poses a health hazard in our office environment, located in Los Angeles.

I'm asking this purely for my own interest and not because I intend to take action -- but are there any legal ways to force a sick person to stay home from work?

posted by bondgirl53001 to work & money (21 comments total)

Would giving them a work from home day be acceptable in your workplace? They could still get things done and avoid losing a sick day, but your office would be safe from scary germs.
posted by Alison at 3:52 PM on October 15, 2008

If the only symptoms are coughing and sneezing I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with your co-worker. If I took sick days every time I caught a cold, I would use up all my sick days and vacation too. I've been coughing and sneezing for the last 7 days here. Are you sure its not allergies? What if its allergies that are being irritated by the fires?

If its really bad (more than just a cold), then ask their supervisor to kindly tell them to go home and get better. We have done that a few times with people who are took sick to be productive.
posted by Joh at 3:55 PM on October 15, 2008

This doesn't answer your question but one practical solution is to give her a face mask and bottle of antiseptic hand gel (like Purell) so she can be at work and not spread germs. In the meanwhile, wash your hands as often as possible. I remember a study that had people playing cards and found that more germs were spread through physical contact than airborne.
posted by metahawk at 3:57 PM on October 15, 2008

If it helps, by the time you're really all coughing and sneezing and in the thick of a cold, you're past the wildly-contagious stage.

Purell was a fine suggestion. Also, reduce the french-kissing while at work.
posted by rokusan at 4:00 PM on October 15, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

I do not believe you can force someone to take a sick day if they choose not to presuming they do not have a dangerous and contagious illness (like TB). But I hear ya and wish more people would stay home when they're sick so they don't spread their cold/flu everywhere.
posted by fenriq at 4:04 PM on October 15, 2008

Probably by changing the workplace policies and/or the attitude of their superior. If they have to get doctor's notes notarized with blood tests every time they want a sick day, they will want to come in. If there is huge workplace pressure about meeting some project deadline, they will want to come in. If there is nagging about having taken a day off for a trivial illness, they will want to come in.

Most people would rather stay home, it's just that they feel like they are punished for doing so. Putting someone between a rock (trying to force them to stay home) and hard place (punishment for staying home) is a great way to get bad decisions made.
posted by adipocere at 4:12 PM on October 15, 2008 [7 favorites has favorites]

Making the co-worker go home is up to co-worker's boss. Step one might be to talk to that person.

Maintaining a good working environment for you is up to your boss. If you feel your health is threatened, then that's who you talk to.
posted by winston at 4:18 PM on October 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

If they have to get doctor's notes notarized with blood tests every time they want a sick day, they will want to come in.

Actually, that would make me want to quit, as the attitude would suggest that I wasn't able to make my own choices about whether or not I was too sick to come to work and thus needed to be constantly kept honest.

IANAL, but I'm pretty sure no way to force someone who doesn't have, say, a serious public health concern like TB or MRSA to stay home from work. Wash your hands more often, take your Emergen-C, and stay out of your coworker's way.

(My office is coughing up a storm due to the fires, and we're down by the beach. I was paranoid about ill coworkers until I ended up in a mass water-cooler commiseration about allergies...)
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 4:29 PM on October 15, 2008

At my work place, if you are sick, your boss all but MAKES you go home. This is company policy, not a legality. If you and your coworkers complain to your boss enough, maybe your company will make sick people go home too.
posted by Medieval Maven at 4:37 PM on October 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Contagion is surprisingly counter-intuitive. When it comes to colds and flus, the most contagious rarely show symptoms. Sucks dont it?
posted by damn dirty ape at 4:43 PM on October 15, 2008

I don't think there's anything legal that can force people to stay home (except for things like TB obviously).

The problem is that most organisations have a culture of "presenteeism", so people are implictly encouraged to come to work if they are capable of working (particularly if they don't get paid for sick leave). If you're capable of working, but might infect other people, you think of yourself first - and hence come into work. Yes, it's the wrong approach - especially as having a day off often means that you get over whatever it is much quicker than forcing yourself to go into work, which often prolongs the misery, and exposes others.

There's probably not much you can do to change the culture, apart from being supportive of people who are sick and decide to stay home (and that may mean taking on some of their work while they're off). And if people come in anyway, encouraging them to go home! Encouraging your organisation to develop "working from home" policies also helps.

To help yourself, all you can do is boost your own immune system (zinc, vitamin C, healthy diet, good sleep) and wash your hands lots.
posted by finding.perdita at 5:41 PM on October 15, 2008

When my mother was immunosuppressed I refused to come anywhere nears several sick people that should not have been at work. I would have been a bit pissed if someone's sniffle killed my mother.

None of these people went home. I didn't make a case out of it, just refused to help them, so I don't know if you can force them to go home, but no one can make you go near them.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:11 PM on October 15, 2008

talk to your supervisor. it clearly is not good for office productivity if everyone gets sick. in the meantime, wash your hands often, and clean off shared things that you touch (the fridge in the break room, buttons on the copy machine and fax and printer, the doorknob to the office, etc).
posted by thinkingwoman at 7:39 PM on October 15, 2008

Company Culture++.

You can't expect people to stay home when they're sick until they feel free to. Since most of the time people get rewarded for being "a trooper and coming in even when she looks dead", and get a bunch of recriminations when they call out, there's a perverse incentive to come to work when you're sick--even if you'd be paid to take the day off.
posted by Netzapper at 7:51 PM on October 15, 2008

But one co-worker has been sneezing and coughing up a storm

This describes me for about three months of every year. Are you sure its not allergies?
posted by anastasiav at 7:52 PM on October 15, 2008

Yes. Make staying home a viable option. I get two sick days a year, though I know some people out there get none. My sick time is generally used up with wellness visits, and I don't have a ton of vacation time, so I'm reticent to stay home unless I absolutely have to. Is it selfish? Yes. But I would rather be selfish and not be monetarily penalized for doing the right thing and staying home (i.e. taking unpaid leave). My coworkers come in sick as well, presumably for the same reasons. We have had people go through the day puking in the bathroom. Others blow through an entire box of tissues in a day. It sucks and is bad for morale.

In my office, if you are so sick that you are not productive, you are sent home. No consideration is given to contagiousness. The boss makes the call though, as noted above.

I conclude that it is generally the culture, not the sick person. It was not like this when I was in workplaces with ample sick leave.
posted by ml98tu at 9:21 PM on October 15, 2008

I work as a temp, and don't get sick days. So no work = no pay. Believe me, when I'm sick I wish I was at home too.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:29 PM on October 15, 2008

And I wish I could afford it.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:30 PM on October 15, 2008

Most of the answers here have been speculation on why she's sick and why she's not staying home. Why don't you ask her? "Oh, you poor thing, you sound like you're having a terrible time. You should go home and rest!" Possible responses are: "Oh, it's just allergies, I have a deadline, I can't afford it, etc." If it's just allergies, no worries. If she has a deadline, can you offer to help her with the work, or recruit others to do so, or talk to her boss about an extension? If she can't afford it, is it worth it to you to help her with expenses so she can go home?
posted by desjardins at 8:37 AM on October 16, 2008

I only got sent home sick from work when I was literally passing out over the keyboard. If you're coughing and sneezing up a storm but can obviously still keep typing, nobody's gonna send you home for that. Plus odds are just as high that they have smoke issues or are allergic to something anyway.

So yeah, just avoid their work space, wash your hands, etc. That's all you can do.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:01 AM on October 16, 2008

> presenteeism

I do not think that word means what you think it means. :-)

I've heard that word used more to describe the second- and third-order costs to an organism when employees *do* show up to work when they should be taking a sick day.
posted by baylink at 12:53 PM on October 16, 2008