Dive Brief:
- LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, two major U.S. clinical laboratories, recently announced return-to-work services for employers.
- LabCorp said May 14 it will offer employee check-in health questionnaires, temperature screens and both on-site and off-site COVID-19 test collection, among other services.
- Quest Diagnostics May 27 announced on-site temperature checks, respiratory and blood specimen collection, online questionnaires, access to telemedicine services, contract tracing and more. The lab also noted that, because "some jobs are higher risk than others," it plans to prioritize testing access for organizations that employ workers in critical pandemic response roles.
Dive Insight:
The laboratories’ offerings generally reflect steps experts suggested for employers seeking to return employees to work during the novel coronavirus pandemic. And the services may make on-site testing a reality.
Trucking can expose drivers to more people along their routes, which means coronavirus detection, treatment and contact tracing are vital. Along with services from LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, an app for employers resulting from a UnitedHealth and Microsoft partnership can screen employees for the virus.
Temperature checks and questions about symptoms were approved by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleviating some employers’ concerns about potential disability discrimination. Notably, however, employers must screen employees evenly, EEOC said, taking care to avoid race and national origin discrimination for example. And they must ensure any medical information retained is kept separate from personnel files, the agency cautioned.
Experts also told Transport Dive sister publication HR Dive a month ago that employers were in the clear to require COVID-19 testing for employees returning to work, but that alternative checks were more practical due to a lack of tests and because it was not advisable to send an employee to a healthcare facility unnecessarily.
