Employee Work Restrictions for Infection Control

From time to time, health care workers are restricted from patient contact because of proven or suspected infectious illness or because of incubating disease after an exposure. The CDC Guideline for Infection Control in Hospital Personnel addresses a number of infectious illnesses and exposures which may require some type of employee restriction from patient contact. However, the Guideline does not address the administrative aspects that accompany putting an employee on a leave of absence for infection control purposes. This process is often complicated and questions frequently arise as to how an employee should be paid for the time lost from work. In general, there is no uniform way to approach the problem of “absence to prevent contagion.” As with many areas of infection control and employee health, hospitals can choose one of several options. However, the employee should never be penalized for reporting an infectious illness or exposure, and administrators should encourage reporting of proven or suspected disease or exposures (eg, exposure to chickenpox).