K&L Gates - Food & Beverage (Restaurants) Reopening Checklist

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Continue encouraging employee hygiene and social distancing measures

Implement or continue a temperature testing procedure3 for employees to ensure that no one is coming into the workplace with a fever (temperature of 100.4 or higher). Refer to Model Temperature Testing Policy.
Ensure that the employee administering the temperature tests is protected. For example, depending on how the test is administered, the employee may need to wear gloves, a gown, a face shield or goggles, and either a face mask or a respirator (e.g., an N95 filtering facepiece).
Consult with counsel to determine requirements of applicable state privacy notification laws, which may entitle employees to notice at the time of collection describing what information is being collected (body temperature) and the purpose(s) for which the information will be used (to maintain a safe work environment).
Provide a private setting for screening and ensure that all communications between screener and employee are confidential. Consider having employees who do not pass the screening test move to a safe and private location to review next steps, including return to work criteria.
Consider implications of storing information that is collected during the screening process and minimize the information that is collected (i.e., consider when information should be recorded and, if recordation is necessary, limit to factual health-related information, and treat information as a confidential medical record).
If necessary, choose to administer COVID-19 testing to employees before they enter the workplace to determine if the employee has the virus.
In the event that reliable COVID-19 antibody testing becomes widely available, consult with counsel and applicable federal, state, and local guidelines regarding the company’s ability to request, require, disseminate, and/or use employee antibody test results in the workplace.
Provide tissues and no-touch disposal receptacles.
Place hand sanitizers in multiple locations to encourage hand hygiene.
Discourage handshaking and encourage the use of other noncontact methods of greeting.
Provide and/or permit employees to wear face coverings or masks as recommended or required by the CDC and state and local health officials.
Routinely clean and disinfect all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, keyboards, telephones, handrails and oorknobs.
Provide disposable wipes so that commonly used surfaces can be wiped down by employees before each use.
Consider adapting the workspace as much as practicable to facilitate social distancing and allow employees to remain six-feet apart from one another.
Stagger breaks and remind employees to remain six-feet apart from one another during breaks.
Continue conducting meetings via teleconference or web conference and discourage face-to-face meetings unless absolutely necessary.
Continue to prohibit non-essential work travel and follow government travel guidelines.
Open all doors, where feasible, to reduce points of contact.

Continue enforcing personnel policies regarding employees who are symptomatic COVID-19 or recently have been diagnosed with or exposed to COVID-19

Require any employee who is symptomatic of COVID-19 or has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days to continue to work from home or take leave until the employee qualifies to return to work. Refer to Response to a Confirmed Case of COVID-19 in the Workplace.
Require any employee who becomes sick or displays COVID-19 symptoms during the employee’s work shift to go home immediately. If it is not possible for the employee to go home immediately, the employee must self-isolate until able to leave work. The surfaces of the workplace should be cleaned immediately.
If an employee has been exposed to COVID-196 and is asymptomatic, determine if the employee is a critical infrastructure worker.7
If employee is NOT a critical infrastructure worker: Instruct employee to not report to work and self-quarantine at home for a 14 day period.8
If employee is a critical infrastructure worker: The company has the discretion, if business needs warrant or require, to follow CDC guidance for safety practices for critical infrastructure workers who are asymptomatic but have been exposed to COVID-19. These CDC guidelines should be confirmed against any state or local orders related to quarantines, workplace operations, stay-at-home, shelter in-place, and other isolation related requirements.9

End furloughs or temporary leaves of absences for employees

Assess workforce and determine (1) which employees will be recalled at the end of the furlough or temporary leave of absence and which employees (if any) may need to be terminated, and (2) what positions and salaries recalled employees will have. Consider any state or local predictive scheduling laws.
If some or all furloughed employees may not be recalled due to changing business conditions, work with counsel to perform a disparate impact analysis, assess whether additional obligations may be triggered (such as WARN Act notifications, termination payments, etc.), and decide whether to provide severance to separating employees in exchange for a release of claims.
Document objective decision-making criteria for recalling or terminating employees to protect the company from potential discrimination claims. Decisions to recall certain employees cannot be based on apparent higher risk of COVID-19 complications (i.e., older or pregnant employees).
Provide a Furlough Recall Letter to furloughed employees to whom re employment will be offered. The Furlough Recall Letter should include the following:
- Employment offer;
- Return-to-work date;
- Terms of employment, such as position, supervisor, salary, hours, and exempt/non-exempt status;
- Identification of anything that has changed in the employee’s offered position, as compared to the employee’s pre-furlough position;
- Benefits status, including how the recall from furlough affects benefits, accrued PTO, and sick leave (being mindful of existing company policy and applicable law);
- Information regarding the company’s accommodation request process should an employee need a reasonable accommodation upon the employee’s return to work;
- Any new policies and procedures relating to re-opening, such as staggered shifts, work from home, social distancing, regular cleanings, personal hygiene, reduced customer capacity, and any industry-specific or government-mandated requirements;
- Appreciation for the employee’s commitment to the company and his or her understanding and flexibility during this trying time; and
- Contact information for follow-up questions.
Update payroll provider about changes to active status of employees that accept offer to return.
Re-train employees who are recalled on proper safety guidelines.

Return employees to in-office work

Closely monitor and review all federal, state, and local orders regarding the reopening of businesses and expiration of stay at-home or shelter-in-place orders. Only require employees to return to in office work when it is safe to do so and authorized by law.
Follow all industry-specific guidance that pertains to the company’s industry area. Consult the following addenda for information relevant to the (1) retail industry; (2) manufacturing/production industry; (3) hospitality industry; and (4) transportation industry.
Have employees return to work incrementally. Start by requiring only essential personnel to come into the office to begin working for a one-week period and gradually increase the number of employees in the workplace week by week until all employees are back working in the office.
If your employees have been able to work remotely, consider allowing employees to return to work voluntarily for the first few weeks of reopening. This may give the business an opportunity to test new procedures with a reduced headcount in the workspace and provide employees with needed flexibility to adjust to retuning to work.
Consider having employees return to work on staggered schedules or shifts so that not all employees who have returned to in-office work are present in the workplace at the same time.
Provide as much notice as possible to employees of their expected return to in-office work date. Be flexible with employees transitioning from teleworking to working back in the office (i.e., consider allowing employees to continue teleworking two days per week and working in office three days per week at first).
If an employee has a medical condition that according to the CDC may put the employee at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 and the employee requests a reasonable accommodation, engage in the interactive process with the employee to determine whether a reasonable accommodation can be made without undue hardship.
After receiving this request, an employer can ask follow up questions or seek medical documentation to determine if the employee has a disability and if there is a reasonable accommodation that can be provided.
Common examples of reasonable accommodations for high-risk employees may include: providing additional protective measures or equipment; temporarily modifying the employee’s work schedule; moving the location of where one performs work or increasing the space between an employee with a disability or others; eliminating less critical job duties of the employee; transferring employee to a lower-exposure work assignments; allowing the employee to continue teleworking. The EEOC encourages employers and employees to be creative and flexible in identifying reasonable accommodations during this pandemic.10
Do not automatically prevent an employee that is considered higher-risk for severe illness from COVID-19 from returning to work if the employee does not request an accommodation. 11
Remind employees of leave entitlements under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), if applicable; as many employees may need to request leave to care for children if employers and places of business have reopened, but schools and other child-care facilities have not.
Implement and communicate a procedure to employees for returning company property used during teleworking upon returning to in-office work.