- Workplace Staph/Staff by popoe
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Blog: Body in Balance
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Staph Problems
HR leaders are wondering what actions they should be taking as MRSA gravitates from health facilities and schools to workplaces. The staph infection, which is resistant to antibiotics, is spread by direct skin-to-skin contact and sharing items, such as towels.
By Bob Calandra
It is called the "Superbug" and it is loose in the workplace. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus -- MRSA -- once confined to hospitals and nursing homes where it infected the sick and elderly, is becoming more common in the workplace.
"Over the last two or three weeks I have been getting a number of calls where clients are saying employees are coming in and advising them that they have this type of infection," says Mark A Lies II, a labor and employment law attorney and partner with Seyfarth Shaw, in Chicago.
"Then the employer asks the question, 'What do we have to do?' "
The first thing employers should do, say experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, is understand what MRSA is and how it is transmitted. According to the CDC's MRSA and the Workplace Web site, it is a drug-resistant strain of the common staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
The CDC estimates that as many as 25 percent to 30 percent of the healthy population carry the staph bacteria on their skin or in their nose -- and don't fall ill. Of those, only 1 percent have the MRSA strain.
But unlike most staph bacteria, MRSA is resistant to methicillin and other antibiotics. The strain began appearing outside healthcare settings in the 1990s. Called community-associated MRSA, the skin infection that looks like a pimple or boil can sicken otherwise healthy people
MRSA is usually transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact or by sharing items (towels) or surfaces, according to the CDC. And it can be found anywhere, from gyms, schools and dormitories, to daycare centers, and yes, offices.
The CDC lists five factors that make contracting MRSA easier:
* Crowding,
* Skin-to-skin contact,
* Compromised skin, such as cuts or abrasions,
* Contaminated items, or
* A lack of cleanliness.
Most people infected by MRSA, says the CDC, can go to work unless otherwise directed by their physician, or if they have draining wounds that cannot be covered by a clean, dry bandage.
The only restriction for those infected is to discontinue skin-to-skin contact with others.
So, what should an employer with a MRSA-infected employee do? Send the employee home? Keep them isolated from the rest of the staff?
First, calm down, says Lies. "We continue to have to restrain employers," he says.
In recent months Lies has heard from clients in manufacturing and the service industry, including restaurants, who have employees with MRSA. The key to stopping the infection from spreading, he says, is simple: Maintain good sanitation and personal hygiene.
"Really, this is basically the transmission of a disease from one person touching another, or contaminating a surface in a washroom," he says.
Lies tells clients they have a duty to tell their employees about the MRSA threat, and to educate them on ways to avoid being infected. It's important, he says, that employees know their company is committed to a safe and healthy workplace.
"Then the employee is in their comfort zone because they know the employer is doing something," Lies says.
The company should make it clear that medical information will be kept as confidential as possible and that employees won't face retaliation for reporting any communicable disease, including MRSA, to the proper manager.
"A lot of employers are posting information and telling employees if they have MRSA ... [that] it will be kept confidential," says Lies, who has written an article called, MRSA Infections -- Workplace Liability Issues. "Larger employers are taking CDC information and putting it up on their intranet site for employees."
Lies says the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act does not prohibit HR from receiving information about an employee with MRSA because "the HR director is not a 'health provider' under HIPAA and HIPAA allows [for] employer representatives who need this information in order to comply with other laws," such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and other "public-health laws."
But what happens when a MRSA-infected employee refuses to cooperate?
"Then [an employer needs] to do something about it," he says.
Above all, the employer should follow company policies and procedures for documenting all requests and conversations. Clearly recount any actual case, or other information about MRSA, along with conversations with outside agencies.
Since MRSA constitutes a public health hazard, Lies advises his clients to consider immediately contacting the area Department of Public Health to make sure they fulfill all local reporting requirements. Finally, document any employee requests for MRSA-related disability pay.
An employer ordering a worker to see a doctor to get a return-to-work certificate may be leaving the door open for a retaliation claim. Instead, Lies suggests companies opt to place such workers on FMLA leave.
"If they are not going to cooperate, get them out until they are symptom free," he says. "At least you remove the employee from the workplace and not infect the other workers, who you also have a duty to protect."
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