Under the policy of "Class B A control" for COVID-19 pneumonia, on December 7, 2022, the State Council issued the Notice on Further Optimizing the Implementation of COVID-19 Prevention and Control Measures in response to the joint prevention and control mechanism for novel coronavirus infected pneumonia, stipulating that the isolation policy for COVID-19 patients should change from centralized isolation to home isolation, supplemented by centralized isolation.

On December 26, 2022, the National Health Commission announced that COVID-19 would be renamed as COVID-19 infection, and the measures for prevention and control of Class A infectious diseases against COVID-19 infection would be lifted from January 8, 2023. This major adjustment means that since January 8, 2023, COVID-19 infection will be adjusted from "Category B A" to "Category B B", and COVID-19 infected people will no longer be isolated. This is another major adjustment in the epidemic prevention and control policy since China implemented strict Class A prevention and control measures for infectious diseases in January 2020. In the face of the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, there will inevitably be some adjustments in the employment management of employers. To this end, we have conducted the following analysis on the issues of concern to employers based on existing policies for reference.

Lawyer Analysis

1. How is the salary paid to employees on leave due to COVID-19 infection?

Wage payment is related to the national characterization of COVID-19 infection. In China, when COVID-19 infection is included in the "Class B A control" (that is, during the period when Class B infectious diseases are included but Class A infectious disease prevention and control measures are taken, before January 8, 2023), employees are isolated due to COVID-19 infection, whether in centralized isolation or at home isolation, In accordance with the provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Properly Handling Labor Relations during the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia Infected by novel coronavirus, the enterprise shall pay employees for their work during isolation.

After COVID-19 infection returns to "Class B and Class B" (that is, it is included in Class B infectious diseases and Class B infectious disease prevention and control measures are taken, that is, from January 8, 2023), if an employee takes leave due to COVID-19 infection, the employer shall pay sick leave wages according to the provisions of the medical period and the company's rules and regulations.

2. How should employees provide relevant certificates when taking leave due to COVID-19 infection?

If an employee is infected with COVID-19, if it is asymptomatic or mild, he or she does not go to the hospital for medical treatment, but only isolates and uses drugs at home, then he or she will not be able to obtain the sick leave certificate issued by the medical institution. Therefore, employers can flexibly master and require employees to provide a nucleic acid test positive certificate or antigen test positive certificate (they can provide a video recording of the entire process of antigen testing).

3. If the employee is infected with COVID-19, do you need to report it to the employer?

Article 31 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases stipulates: "When any unit or individual discovers an infectious disease patient or a suspected infectious disease patient, it shall promptly report to the nearby disease prevention and control institution or medical institution."; Article 77 stipulates: "Any unit or individual that violates the provisions of this Law, causing the spread and prevalence of infectious diseases, and causing damage to the person and property of others, shall bear civil liability according to law." Therefore, any unit or individual that discovers an infectious patient is obligated to report to the relevant department. COVID-19 infection is a Class B infectious disease, which is infectious to a certain extent. Therefore, when employees find that they are infected with COVID-19, they should take necessary treatment measures and report to relevant departments in a timely manner. At the same time, in order to avoid causing the spread of the epidemic within the unit, it is best for employees to also report to the employer, so that the employer can take necessary preventive and control measures in a timely manner based on the specific situation.

4. Can other employees refuse to go to work because they are worried about being infected by COVID-19?

No matter whether COVID-19 infection is "Class B, Class A" or "Class B, Class B, Class B, Class B", the employer is obliged to provide employees with a safe working environment. Therefore, if the employer finds that employees are infected with COVID-19, it is best to clean and disinfect the relevant working environment in a timely manner. If conditions permit, you can take photos of the disinfection process, or ask the labor union to arrange personnel to supervise the disinfection, in order to eliminate employees' doubts and concerns about environmental safety. After the employer has explained to the employee or provided relevant evidence of disinfection, if the employee still refuses to work due to fear of infection, the employer may consider the employee as absent from work and handle it in accordance with the relevant regulations of the employer.

The labor management issues related to employees' infection with COVID-19 will be adjusted with the adjustment of national and local policies. Therefore, employers should pay attention to the policies at any time so as to make timely adjustments to the employment management issues.