Employers: Proceed with Caution When Dealing with Employees’ Personal Travel During the Pandemic

Employers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic have implemented a number of safeguards including taking workers’ temperatures and asking for reports of fatigue, coughing and/or difficulty breathing. In an interview with HR Dive, Sam Monsees cautions that when it comes to asking about an employee’s personal travel, employers need to proceed with caution. Sam explains that organizations can generally ask workers where they’re going and where they’ve been, but they must take an even-handed approach and they generally cannot prohibit employees from traveling on their personal time. Since employers cannot prevent personal travel, Sam recommends that employers instead “make a temporary or interim change to their policy about how the employee’s ability to return to work would be affected.”

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