Not if, but when. Foulke, who is now an attorney in the Atlanta office of Fisher & Phillips, reports that representatives of all the federal agencies with whom he worked while in Washington—including the Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Dept. of Homeland Security, and many others as well as OSHA—believe that sooner or later, there will be a pandemic of global and damaging proportions. At the same time, only one in four U.S. employers has an emergency response plan to cover not just a big flu outbreak but also other kinds of disasters. With Howard Mavity, a fellow Fisher & Phillips attorney, he presented a recent audio conference for BLR. Its overall theme? “Don’t Panic, Prepare.”

The foundation of preparation is a three-part plan. First, map out your communications with your employees. Your goal is to calm fears as well as inform staff of your plans to deal with an epidemic—with an umbrella message that you are truly concerned about your employees. If they have too little/no information from their employer, they’re likely to panic. Second, stress the most important hygiene technique ever: Wash your hands frequently, for at least 20 seconds, with hot water and soap. Employers should also consider such personal protective equipment as respirators for high-risk employees and face masks for all others. Third, plan a workplace strategy for other conditions.

Absence will be high. Foulke and Mavity urge employers to prepare for an absence rate of between 30 percent and 40 percent. How would you cope? They recommend that you begin now to identify the most essential onsite people in the organization, and their competencies. Next, cross-train other employees to fill those roles so that you are at least two deep on crucial functions. Finally, knowing that many absent employees can work from home given the right technologies, bolster their resources. Remember as well that the widespread use of remote computers will make your proprietary information more vulnerable, so shore up protections.

Information technology research firm Gartner believes that absence rates could go as high as 100 percent if National Guard and other reserves are called to service. And Foulke and Mavity warn that if schools are closed, the parents of students who are among your employees may be forced to stay home to care for their children.

Prepare for a Pandemic

Fisher & Phillips attorneys Foulke and Mavity presented BLR audio conference listeners with many tips and strategies for coping with widespread illness among employees and their families. For more information on BLR audio conferences, go to www.blr.com/audio. And here is some of Foulke and Mavity’s advice:

• Get to know your local emergency response personnel—now—so that you’ll have a relationship with them should the need arise.
• Also stay in touch with area physicians and public health officials; you may need their help and advice.
• Talk to your essential suppliers to find out how they might be affected; work with them to create contingency plans so that you can maintain crucial operations.
• If a vaccine is approved for the prevalent virus, offer your employees free vaccinations.
• Review and assess your leave policies: Does your sick leave policy encourage employees to stay home if they are sick? Can they receive advances on other paid time off? Can they stay home to care for a family member?
• Stock a sufficient supply of sanitizing products and medical kits.
• Consider adopting insured short-term disability benefit programs.
• The flu will likely qualify as a short-term disability: If you believe an employee is infected and represents a danger to others, he or she is not “otherwise qualified” to do the job under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued guidance on questions employers may ask of workers and when a medical exam can be required. See www.eeoc.gov/facts/h1n1_flu.html. Other useful websites are www.pandemicflu.gov and www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu.
• If the Centers for Disease Control identify foreign countries where flu is widespread, you can prohibit all nonessential travel to those countries (and rethink your definition of essential).
• Direct employees to your Employee Assistance program for help with extra stress generated by the pandemic.