A: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidance that employers may take employees’ temperatures during the COVID-19 pandemic because COVID-19 is spreading nationwide. Note that many people may have COVID-19 without a fever, so other safety precautions should not be scaled back just because employees “checked out” upon arrival to work. The CDC summarizes symptoms here. Employees’ body temperatures are considered medical information and must be kept confidential under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  

The main CDC COVID-19 page has general community mitigation strategies as well as certain regional specific strategies. We cannot provide guidance on how to implement temperature checking procedures, but significant precautions should be taken so that you do not actually increase risk by reusing a tool that comes into contact with hands, faces, and/or mouths of multiple employees.