MEDFORD, Ore.– Local businesses are learning more about OSHA’s new rules related to Covid-19.One of the new guidelines requires employers to disclose positive coronavirus cases to all employees.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPPA, says employers can’t share delicate health information about an employee without his or her consent.
Local business consultants tell us there is a grey area when dealing with Covid.
They say dealing with the change in guidelines is a lot to handle.
Tonya Sowles, CEO of Sowles Consulting, said, “This is overwhelming, because you’ve been trained for so long to protect that information and you don’t share that information and if someone discloses that they have a health condition, nobody knows about it.”
Sowles says there is a line amidst all the confusion. She says employers can not give any identifying information of the employee or employees who have tested positive for the virus.
OSHA is actively offering training and additional help to employers to make sure releasing information is done correctly.
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