Got H1N1?

What businesses should do.

If you find that an employee has flu-like symptoms or is diagnosed with H1N1, follow these steps:

1. Maintain confidentiality.
2. Mandate that they stay home/telecommute until at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever as a symptom (without the use of fever-reducing medication.
3. Maintain regular, daily communication with the sick employee: make sure that that they know what to expect regarding sick leave/pay and “return to work” policies.
4. Thoroughly wipe down the employee’s office/workstation (janitorial services can assist) with an FDA-approved sanitizer or cleaning agent.
5. Communicate properly internally.
   1. To management you should say: "This employee is on leave for non-disciplinary reasons."
   2. To employees in the office that may have come in contact with the infected individual you should say: "You may have been exposed to influenza and you should monitor yourselves for symptoms."
   3. Educate and reassure all workers (through your normal internal communication channels. *Remember* Healthy employees have no reason to fear from coming in to work, however everyone should monitor themselves for signs of illness.