Well now, doesn’t this look vaguely familiar? School is closed, students are at home working asynchronously and parents are expected to go to work.  There is no FFCRA time off. This issue does not involve an illness (unless maybe if the employee has an underlying health condition) that qualifies for sick time. And, I am guessing that your HR policies do not include smoke days?

 What is an employer to do?  There are several factors to consider. 

 First, who is asking? Are the request(s) from hourly workers or salaried employees? Is the job one that requires employees to be on-site or can they perform their duties remotely?

 Second, if your entire workforce is asking, consider the reasons why employees should come to work under the present conditions (somewhat like coming to work in a snowstorm), or can many of them perform their jobs remotely? 

 If your workers are hourly and must be at the worksite, and you cannot shut down operations or allow everyone to take a vacation day, let’s take a more individualized approach. While I encourage employers to administer their policies evenhandedly, you must consider if the person (or persons) requesting the time/work from home has an underlying medical condition that is supporting the request. If so, you must evaluate whether permitting them to work remotely (or take a day off – with or without pay) will be an undue burden.

 Lastly, but on a more global scale, OSHA requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. I would say that the recent smoke warnings could be a known danger. Will your employees be safe to work? If they need to come to work, pull out those N-95 masks you stuffed in the back of the supply closet and hand them out.

The challenging times continue for employers. However, gone are the days when employers can refuse the work-from-home alternative under most circumstances. Consider your workforce and your business needs, accommodate if necessary. You got this.