When it comes to the pandemic and contact tracing, just how much power and responsibility should your boss have?
State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, has introduced legislation that would require employers to develop contract tracing programs for their workers. Under the measure, Senate Bill 46, employees who test positive for the virus would have to inform their bosses.
Stern says the measure is needed to protect workers from having to rely on trusting their fellow employees’ sense of responsibility.
“In a deadly global pandemic, a person’s individual rights cannot trump the right of their co-workers to be in a safe work environment,” Stern said in a statement.
Currently, the state of California has emergency coronavirus rules in place requiring employers to provide no-cost testing to workers thought to be exposed to the coronavirus while at work.
Employers must also bar employees who might have been exposed from reporting to work.
-Saul Gonzalez (@SaulKQED)