Compliance vs. Coronavirus
Sounds like a twisted classic tale of good vs evil, David vs. Goliath, Godzilla vs. King Kong, Man vs. Food.
OK, the Man vs. Food analogy is a stretch.
But in all seriousness, most compliance programs don’t consider extraordinary events. Sure, we adopt exceptions for snow days; Here in Charlotte, just the threat of a flurry closes school and parents scramble for emergency day care, work from home if their policy allows it, use a vacation day, or even take unpaid leave. Even call-ins on the Monday after the Superbowl as “sick” days are accepted, at least they were in Kansas City last month. We allow exceptions from policy for everything from hangovers to snow days, but all in all, those are as much an inconvenience that come with life as they are extraordinary events.
I saw this morning that at a Department of Homeland Security facility in New Jersey, an employee who had just returned from China called in to her supervisor and asked if she should stay home in quarantine as was directed, but her supervisor told her to come to work, against CDC recommendations. This ultimately triggered the AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) to file a labor grievance and a complaint with OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration).
Contrary to what some have said, the Coronavirus is not “a cold” or like the common flu. It has potential to be a global pandemic with rapid mutation and communicability. There is no vaccine yet, nor adequate testing. There might not even be enough quarantine beds at hospitals to manage the spread of the disease. Coronavirus is indeed an extraordinary event. It’s not a snow flurry in the south.
So how should an extraordinary event like Coronavirus affect policies? How should it affect or modify a work-at-home policy? For example, if a spouse or family member has Coronavirus, but the employee does not, should they stay home or come to work? They aren’t sick, but surely staying home is the prudent decision for the company and other employees health and safety. Does that mean if it is the company’s decision for the employee to stay home - even though healthy - should they still be paid?
At ETHIX360, we suggest that companies should have an Extraordinary Event Policy. Here are some guidelines we would recommend that you take into consideration in a policy of this type.
Set guidelines for how an extraordinary event is defined. Who should determine or declare when an extraordinary event has occurred? How should this be communicated?
Set rules that can be used in affected areas or companywide. For example, Hurricane Katrina certainly was an extraordinary event for businesses, but only for locations in the affected area, not globally.
Review policies that may need to be considered in an extraordinary event. For example, if employees will be allowed to work at home or hospital quarantine, how are policies related to data privacy impacted?
Do you have policies that would prohibit it from being acceptable to work from home or a remote location, and if so and the employee is in a quarantined position, how is that time accounted for? Unpaid leave? Sick leave?
Does it matter if it was a vacation and they are quarantined on a cruise ship in a foreign port for weeks, or if they were on a work trip and end up on a flight that is quarantined for 14 days at some Air Force base hundreds of miles from home? Are these unexcused absences? Do they qualify under your policy for short term disability?
An extraordinary event is serious business. Lives are lost, families are damaged, property is destroyed. It can take communities, families and businesses years to recover based on the severity and localized impact of the event. An Extraordinary Event Policy lives between disaster recovery and everyday operations, and bridges the time when those two realities collide.
At ETHIX360, our thoughts and prayers are with the people around the world who have been impacted, are suffering and have lost loved ones. But events like this, should give all of us as compliance, HR and ethics professionals reason to take pause and realize that we have policies to protect our company AND our people. We work hard to make sure they are fair, well communicated and without bias. But we generally make them based on normal disruptions – not global pandemics. And when an extraordinary event occurs that impacts us, there is little time to do more than react. An Extraordinary Event Policy can give us those guidelines and boundaries in advance of an actual event to think through variables and contingencies, priorities and fair doctrine, responsibility and compassion so that if that bell must be rung, our businesses will respond to the challenge in the best way possible for all concerned.
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MEET THE AUTHOR
J Rollins is the co-founder and CEO of ETHIX360. J is a well known leader and innovator who has served on senior leadership teams ranging in responsibility from Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP of Product Strategy and Chief Operating Officer.
ABOUT ETHIX360
At ETHIX360, our goal is simple: to provide an affordable, flexible, and comprehensive answer to employee communication, policy management, corporate training and case management on issues related to corporate ethics, code of conduct, fraud, bribery, and workplace violence.
