Follow EEOC guidance on COVID-19 inquiries, hiring, privacy, accommodations.

With the coronavirus touching all aspects of the workplace, the EEOC recently issued guidance to clarify how HR should respond to four key issues:

1. Hiring. You can screen job applicants for COVID-19 symptoms after making a conditional job offer, as long as you do so for all entering employees in the same type of job. Also, you can delay a new hire's start date or rescind a job offer if he or she has COVID-19 symptoms.

   However, it's not permissible to delay a start date or pull a job offer because a new hire falls into a certain at-risk population (older, pregnant, disabled, etc.). That remains an ADA violation.

2. Medical inquiries. During the pandemic, employers can ask questions to determine if applicants or employees pose a health danger at work. The EEOC clarified that taking an employee's temperature and testing for COVID-19 is permissible (see pages 1 and 2). If employees show symptoms at work, you can send them home to ensure co-worker safety.

3. Confidentiality. Employers should store all medical information related to COVID-19 in existing medical files, which the ADA requires storing separately from other HR files. Employers may disclose to health authorities the names of employees who test positive...