Updated: Dec 30, 2022
February 24, 2021: Written by: Christopher M. Leddy, Esq.
As staffing firms are familiar with by now, as a condition of entering the workplace, staffing firms and their clients may require COVID-19 testing of employees and temporary workers. However, until recently, the CDC had not fully developed and laid out what consents and disclosures were required to be provided to employees and temporary workers before a business could institute such a program. Well, now the CDC has.
The below outlines what the CDC expects of such testing programs. Therefore, when a client requires COVID-19 testing, staffing firms, as the employer of record, will want to ensure that both the staffing firm and the client are complying with the CDC guidance, especially if the client is the one conducting the testing. Ensuring a client’s compliance may require an amendment to the master services agreement as well as visual oversight.
According to the CDC, all testing should only be conducted with an employee’s or temporary worker’s informed consent which must consist of (1) disclosure, (2) understanding, and (3) free choice.