Some companies planned to run tests for all employees. But it would be ultimately impossible as Muriel Pénicaud said on France Info this Monday: “It it’s ban to run general screening test campaign within companies”. According to the deconfinement plan revealed by Edouard Philippe, companies are asked to keep on working from home after May 11th. Yet, if some of them think that resuming work cannot be made from home, employees are asked to come back to work.
In these conditions, some companies already planned to test their employees. But Minister of Labor warns that this could not happen on several grounds. First, “performing samples by medical prescription is painful, logistically difficult (protective gear) and must be performed by trained professionals” Muriel Pénicaud said. Moreover, the Minister of Labor reminds the importance of upholding medical confidentiality. A company does not have to know the employee’s medical situation. “The occupational health doctor can know it if the employee talks about him, but he is submitted to medical confidentiality” she added.
So, an employee can refuse to have his temperature checked, especially as it is not included in the recommendations to set up because “a lack of temperature does not mean it is not covid”. But how to keep on fighting against the coronavirus epidemic within companies? Muriel Pénicaud says that the Minister of Labor has released this Sunday a national deconfinement protocol in order to accompany employers in upholding health safety despite work resuming.
