Governor Sununu: certain industries to reopen business throughout the month of May

Governor Sununu’s Stay at Home 2.0, Executive Order 40 permits certain industries to reopen business throughout the month of May. This Order continues to encourage all businesses, essential or not, to continue remote operations. All business that have remained open or are reopening must adhere to the following specific requirements set forth in Exhibit B to the Order, “The Universal Business Guidelines,” in addition to guidelines for their specific industry set forth in Exhibit C of the Order:

1. Any employee who is sick or not feeling week must stay at home and notify his or her supervisor by phone.

2. Employers must develop and clearly communicate a process for screening all employees for COVID-19 related symptoms such as fever, respiratory symptoms like runny nose, sore throat, cough, or shortness of breath, flu symptoms like muscle aches, chills, and severe fatigue, and changes in a person’s sense of taste or smell. As part of this process, the employer must identify a location and person who will screen each employee every day before the employee enters the work site. Both the person performing the screening and the employee must wear a mask. The screener should take and document the temperature of each employee with a no-contact thermometer as part of this daily screening. If this is not possible, then the employee’s temperature can be taken before arriving to work if it can be sufficiently authenticated by the employee. A “normal” temperature is anything 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Lastly, the screener should ask the employee the following questions:

• Have you been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19?
• Have you had a fever or felt feverish in the last 72 hours?
• Are you experiencing any respiratory symptoms including a runny nose, sore throat, cough, or shortness of breath?
• Are you experiencing any new muscle aches or chills?
• Have you experienced any new change in your taste or smell?

3. If an employee answers “yes” to any of the questions or exhibits any symptoms of COVID-19, the employer must instruct the employee to leave the premises immediately and to seek medical advice. Employers must maintain employee confidentiality throughout this process.

4. Employers must strongly promote and encourage frequent hand hygiene and alcohol-based hand sanitizer must be made readily available. This requires employers to monitor employee hand washing or use of hand sanitizer. To the extent possible, employers should make individual bottles of hand sanitizer available to employees and place hand sanitizer in frequently visited locations for both employees and customers/visitors.

5. Employers must implement workplace cleaning and disinfection practices by following CDC guidelines. This involves regular sanitation of high-moderate touch surfaces at least every 2 hours. Employers must also develop policies for worker protection and provide training to all staff prior to assigning cleaning tasks.

6. To help mitigate exposure, employers must support the use of cloth face coverings where social distancing is difficult to maintain, implement social distancing guidelines, and modify employee schedules where possible to reduce the number of physical interactions. Meetings should be conducted by phone or video conferencing and in-person meetings should be limited. Employees should be able to maintain a safe distance of at least 6 feet from each other at all times. Employers should limit self-serving situations like candy dishes or common creamers at coffee stations. Employers should also promote etiquette for coughing, sneezing, and handwashing. Employers should provide employees with tissues, no-touch trash cans, soap and water, and hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Employers should discourage employees from using co-workers’ phones, desks, offices, or other equipment.

7. Employers should continue to allow employees to work from home as much as practical.

9. Employers should plan for potential COVID-19 cases by implementing plans to continue essential business functions in situations of higher than usual absenteeism. Employers should work with the state when needed to monitor and investigate cases of COVID-19 and must always work in a manner to protect employee privacy rights.
10. Covered employers must remind their employees of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
11. Employers must update their Employee Illness Policy by reviewing their current policies to ensure they are consistent with public health recommendations and existing state and federal workplace laws, as well as any sector specific recommendations by the state. Policies should be amended to include symptoms of COVID-19, or employers should create specific COVID-19 related policies  Employers should maintain flexible, non-punitive policies that permit an employee to stay home if he or she is sick or needs to care or a sick family member. All employees should sign the revised or new policy and employers should post the policy.
12. Employers should communicate frequently with both employees and customers about what is being done to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This includes communicating expectations to employees with recommendations of what people can do, posting extensive signage on health policies, and communicate with customers about the steps being taken to help protect them. 

Executive Order 40 also contains requirements for employees which align with the requirements for employers.