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Poll results

As Gov. Charlie Baker increases restrictions related to coronavirus, including on travelers who come from states with higher case rates, some employers are moving in a similar direction. UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Mass., is among them, requiring caregivers who travel outside of New England to either quarantine upon return or else provide a negative coronavirus test.

Should employers be able to restrict employees from traveling to coronavirus hot spots?
Yes (62%, 147 VOTES)
No (38%, 92 VOTES)
Poll Description

As Gov. Charlie Baker increases restrictions related to coronavirus, including on travelers who come from states with higher case rates, some employers are moving in a similar direction. UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Mass., is among them, requiring caregivers who travel outside of New England to either quarantine upon return or else provide a negative coronavirus test.

  • 239 Votes
  • 7 Comments
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7 Comments

  • Yvonne Raia
    August 12, 2020

    I voted yes, but by restrict I mean requiring a negative test upon return or quarantine for 14 days before returning to the workplace. The other reason I vote yes is because I would not want companies forcing employees to travel for business. It would seem that if you are implementing restrictions on personal travel you're not going to be also forcing employees to travel for business.

  • Andrew Coull
    August 11, 2020

    Companies have employees because they need things to get done. In my business, many of our employee's can only do their jobs outside of their home. So if such an employee chooses to take week or two vacation and travels to a "high risk" state, comes back and then has to quarantine for 2 additional weeks, that's 3 - 4 weeks without any work from that employee. A little different for an employee who can work remotely, but many cannot (think: truck driver). Yes, employers should have the ability to manage their workforce or risk going out of business - and who would that benefit?

  • August 11, 2020
    Employers should be able to require a returning employee to either quarantine or provide a negative, but if the employee wants to take vacation (or whatever) time to travel to a hot spot they should have the freedom to do so -- as long as they know the requirements to return to their position.
  • August 11, 2020
    Two answers - Yes, they can and should restrict business travel to the extent possible for their own business purposes. No - they should not restrict personal travel, though complying with any state (MA to otherwise) requirement is on the employee's dime. There should be no obligation for a company to direct or pay for the actions taken by private citizens. Companies should make clear what their 'return to work' rules are in advance so employees can make their own decisions and be responsible for their own actions.
  • August 11, 2020
    Meeting the state law is enough. Work does not need any additional rules, dates or retesting, if you meet the law.