Disney World Reportedly Allowing COVID-Positive Employees To Work

[DLgal]

There are going to be cases among the employees at Disney parks. There just will be.

This article SOUNDS like it is extrapolating ONE WOMAN'S claim about some maintenance CMs based on her personal knowledge of cases being shared out to the larger "CM population."

The information she shares via text message isn't alarming. How often do guests have any contact with groundskeepers or plumbers, most of whom work the graveyard shift?

It's a non issue.

 

[tlmadden73]

Click-bait.

I am sure Disney doesn't WANT (or legally can't) constantly report "we have 3 employees who tested positive today".. and probably nothing is legally requiring them to do anything but tell the other CMs that have had contact with anyone. I don't think they have any obligation to tell the public that .. and frankly I wouldn't expect them to (from a PR standpoint).

We've seen how the "panic" of having X cases reported force places (like schools/universities) to shut down. We've had restaurants locally close down for days because they found out that someone who tested positive for COVID was a patron in the restaurant. That is a bit overkill in my opinion and obviously can't scale to something like a giant theme park. (They can't "shut down" every time they catch wind of someone who catches COVID that works at the park)

All we know (and should care about) .. is that despite being open for two months now ..COVID cases are on the severe decline (back to early June levels) in Florida and no major outbreaks are associated with any of the theme parks.

 

[leahgoogle]

This simply isn't true. HIPAA restricts healthcare providers and health insurance companies from releasing information related to a person's medical records. It does not prevent private individuals, other organizations, companies, people, etc from releasing information that has been provided to them (like an employer being given the information by an employee). HIPAA has been used as an excuse by companies such as Disney to prevent the public from finding out the nature and extent of COVID outbreaks amongst its employees, but it's just an excuse.

Our schools will not tell you the identity of any teacher or student that tests positive saying it is because of HIPAA.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Our schools will not tell you the identity of any teacher or student that tests positive saying it is because of HIPAA.

Lay people often confuse HIPAA with other laws. In the case of a school it is likely some of the records you are talking about are protected by FERPA. FERPA does not apply to Disney just like HIPAA does not apply to Disney.

 

[fatmanatee]

LOL I was just googling this because I was pretty sure HIPAA doesn't apply here.

 

[osufeth24]

So what am I supposed to do with my sharpened pitchfork?

 

[disneyjanet]

It’s ADA not HIPPA that prevents disclosing name

From the cdc website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/general-business-faq.html

• If an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace but maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

if someone needs more details they can be found at https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-...and-ada-rehabilitation-act-and-other-eeo-laws

short quote of most relevant info:
Suppose a manager learns that an employee has COVID-19, or has symptoms associated with the disease. The manager knows she must report it but is worried about violating ADA confidentiality. What should she do? (9/8/20; adapted from 3/27/20 Webinar Question 5)
The ADA requires that an employer keep all medical information about employees confidential, even if that information is not about a disability. Clearly, the information that an employee has symptoms of, or a diagnosis of, COVID-19, is medical information. But the fact that this is medical information does not prevent the manager from reporting to appropriate employer officials so that they can take actions consistent with guidance from the CDC and other public health authorities.
The question is really what information to report: is it the fact that an employee—unnamed—has symptoms of COVID-19 or a diagnosis, or is it the identity of that employee? Who in the organization needs to know the identity of the employee will depend on each workplace and why a specific official needs this information. Employers should make every effort to limit the number of people who get to know the name of the employee.

I own a business in WA state and to reopen I am required to follow rules instituted by WA department of labor which requires amongst other things to follow CDC guidelines or face being shut down. A quick google of FL rules seems like there is no actual requirement to follow CDC guidelines it is only recommended. That seems to imply that Disney can choose to voluntarily follow the guidelines but are not required to by the state. Anyone know if Disney has ever stated they are following CDC guidelines for employee exposure?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

From the cdc website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/general-business-faq.html

• If an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace but maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

if someone needs more details they can be found at https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-...and-ada-rehabilitation-act-and-other-eeo-laws

short quote of most relevant info:
Suppose a manager learns that an employee has COVID-19, or has symptoms associated with the disease. The manager knows she must report it but is worried about violating ADA confidentiality. What should she do? (9/8/20; adapted from 3/27/20 Webinar Question 5)
The ADA requires that an employer keep all medical information about employees confidential, even if that information is not about a disability. Clearly, the information that an employee has symptoms of, or a diagnosis of, COVID-19, is medical information. But the fact that this is medical information does not prevent the manager from reporting to appropriate employer officials so that they can take actions consistent with guidance from the CDC and other public health authorities.
The question is really what information to report: is it the fact that an employee—unnamed—has symptoms of COVID-19 or a diagnosis, or is it the identity of that employee? Who in the organization needs to know the identity of the employee will depend on each workplace and why a specific official needs this information. Employers should make every effort to limit the number of people who get to know the name of the employee.

You're getting closer I guess than HIPAA, but the ADA still doesn't prevent Disney from disclosing positives, just disclosing the identity of those positives... It's still just a smokescreen.

 

[disneyjanet]

You're getting closer I guess than HIPAA, but the ADA still doesn't prevent Disney from disclosing positives, just disclosing the identity of those positives... It's still just a smokescreen.

I agree 100% they should absolutely tell other employees they were exposed. I just edited my last post add the following In case you missed it:

I own a business in WA state and to reopen I am required to follow rules instituted by WA department of labor which requires amongst other things to follow CDC guidelines or face being shut down. A quick google of FL rules seems like there is no actual requirement to follow CDC guidelines it is only recommended. That seems to imply that Disney can choose to voluntarily follow the guidelines but are not required to by the state. Anyone know if Disney has ever stated they are following CDC guidelines for employee exposure?

 

[chasgoose]

I think there are definite click-baity elements to this, but there are some troubling allegations in here as well.

First, while The Daily Beast is definitely guilty of using some clickbaity techniques in the way it frames its articles (like headlines and in this one, the attempts to extrapolate what seems like a Downtown Disney CA issue to all Disney parks at large) they are reliable when it comes to the actual reporting of facts and interviews themselves. I don't doubt that those they spoke to are telling the truth or believe that they are. Furthermore, I don't fault many of the sources for wanting to remain anonymous. We are living in a time where many people in the service industry don't have the luxury of doing things that will cost them their jobs (even if it's at a job where they allegedly do not feel safe working) as they work in an industry that is among the hardest hit by COVID in terms of unemployment.

The fact that the Disney labor relations director stated in a letter to employees that continuous testing "is not viable" for DTD and the repeated allegations of the lack of contact tracing/quarantining/testing those who may have been exposed is frightening. While it's definitely expensive, one of the main reasons people have felt safe going to Disney World, at least, is the constant reassurances that Disney is taking extreme measures to make sure employees are constantly tested and that Disney is taking measures to limit the spread if an employee tests positive and test/quarantine those who might have been exposed to that employee. There's no need to identify a specific employee to do this and even if contact tracing and other actions may inadvertently identify an infected employee, as others above have noted, unlike medical professionals, Disney is not under the same obligations to take precautions to prevent inadvertent release of an employee's medical info if they are trying to protect other employees. Employees who worked with someone who tested positive should not have found out about it a week after the fact and they certainly should have access to easy and quick testing provided and paid for by Disney should there be even a question of workplace exposure.

Additionally, the allegations that employees feel pressure to keep going to work even though they tested positive are also of concern. Once again, if something like DTD is going to reopen safely, Disney should be obligated to enable employees to make safe decisions for themselves and other employees. Even though there are false positives, Disney should be offering paid leave for any employee that tests positive and a guarantee of no workplace repercussions for any such employee along with additional testing (at Disney's expense) should there be concerns of a false positive. The burden of testing for a false positive and paying for an employee to stay home until they test negatively should fall on Disney, not its employees.

While none of this seems to be the case at WDW, one of the reasons many people on here and elsewhere feel like a safe trip to WDW is possible right now is that we assume Disney is doing all of the things it should be to keep its CMs (and thus its guests safe). These policies should be in place at all parks and venues Disney has reopened or plans to reopen, whether its a park or a shopping center. Yes all of these measures are expensive and Disney is already losing tons of money with reduced capacity and whatnot, but if they want to reopen things, the burden is on them to bear these costs. Ultimately this does sound like a poor management issue specific to DTD and shouldn't reflect on WDW, but it definitely doesn't sound like DTD is a safe place to go or work right now and that is Disney's fault in the end.

 

[Mit88]

People really think that Disney, with all the restrictions/precautions they are taking, would knowingly allow and encourage Covid positive employees to return to work?

Ridiculous.

People love negativity and will take it as gospel no matter how outlandish it is. Of course most people that are unaware of the steps Disney has taken to ensure the safety of guests and cast members have yet to be anywhere near the place they have such a strong opinion of.

 

[Dznefreek]

Reportedly to me is like "could" in advertising and the local news.
People hear could and think "is".

 

[TonyaG83]

Regardless of whether this is clickbait, depending on how many people opt into the new iPhone update, it may be hard to keep it a secret. It’s all done via location history, so it keeps the identity private. A lot of parents here are relying on it now that schools have reopened (because most of the older kids aren’t going anywhere without their phones).