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Do we have to keep positions open for people who don't want to come to work at this time?

Texas

We have an employee who does not want to come to work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is not showing any symptoms or feeling sick, he just doesn't want to be around anyone at this time. If we let him stay home and keep his job available to him, we fear that will only cause a domino effect and other employees will want to do the same. What can we do in this situation? Do we have to keep his job open for him? Another concern is how unemployment will play into this. We've checked the Texas Workforce site but there is no mention of what to do if the employee doesn't want to work even though we are open. As you know, we are an essential business, we are open for business and we have no plans of closing, furloughing, laying off, etc. Any guidance you can give will be greatly appreciated.

2 replies

Mar 27, 2020
This is really an employment law question, and most of the attorney experts on this site practice law related to construction issues as I do. Likewise, I recommend that you reach out to a qualified employment law attorney in your area. You will likely want one on retainer anyway given the vast amount of new law being passed at record pace as a result of Covid 19.
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Mar 30, 2020
Hello, The soft answer here is to find out if the person would be more comfortable wearing Personal Protective Equipment. If they don't want to come to work when the business has been deemed essential and they don't care about the PPE, then you may be able to consider them has having quit.
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