I am currently working at a company in the United States. Out of privacy concerns, I cannot elaborate beyond that.
Over the past few weeks, our CEO has become increasingly concerned about COVID-19. They believe that if any of our employees became infected, our extended absence from work would be...
Simply put: No, they can't force.. Your governments health-department may be able to enforce a quarantine for the general public if decided through regular legislative process, but an employer can't..
@iLuvLogix Thank you for your comment. I understand that they cannot literally force us to be confined to our homes, but what I'm really asking is - can they legally force us to choose between that and unemployment? I've edited the title to clarify.
@Mars Thank you. I understand that, but given the situation, I am afraid to reveal anything further than I already have, in case my employer finds this and suspects me. I can't imagine that this situation is very common, and my CEO is extremely paranoid right now, which means I have to be paranoid too.
Some US states are larger and more populous than other countries in the world. You afford to tell us that you work for a company in state X and have a crazy CEO. "Crazy CEO" barely even filters out any companies.
The state is a necessity because a lot of employment details are state dependent. Some states are at will employment - so unless he terminates you for certain protected cases, he can terminate you because of the result of a die roll. Some are not. Your "human rights" violation and "privacy concerns to name one of 52 states in a countrs of more than 300 million makes me believe you love dramatizing .- which means the question is... well...
@Mars Ok, that's fair. But this person is fanatically obsessed with COVID-19 and is the kind of person to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence, so I just can't take the risk of them finding this. So I will take what ever I can get based on what I have stated.
You just gave us 10000x more information about your CEO than if you had told us your state... "whatever you can" will probably be some info about federal law, which could screw you up if there's state law involved
@TomTom The irony of me being this cautious while asking a question about my employer's excessive caution is not lost on me. And you may think me overly dramatic for talking about "human rights" when my employer is demanding that I cut off all human contact, but I haven't in the slightest bit exaggerated the situation I am asking about. You mentioned at will employment. If at will employment means that an employer can do this, and if I live in such a state, well then I have my answer.
There is cautios and there is paranoid. Most states of the USA are like small countries in number of inhabitants - there i would rather understand that, but not on a smaller level.Also, how is cutting off all contact supposed to work? Unless you work from home AND are a prepper you will not have the food to handle this for more than a long weekend.
Is your boss going to cut any contact with his wife / kids? What about the people that have no access to a car and use public transport? Its impossible to avoid personal contact.
@Wesley They and the rest of their family members are already self-quarantined in their home and they are demanding the same from us. We have the ability to work from home so transportation is not a factor.
@WorriedWorker - it's laughable that any employer would think they could detect if their employees were "going to stores, interacting with people in person, etc". Just stay mum about your out of work activities while you start your new job search. In the extremely unlikely case that someone did get fired for doing so, they should go to the local newspaper and television news channel. That would make for some interesting stories.
@WorriedWorker - whatever. The point is to stop worrying. Your employer won't actually be able to know what you do outside of work. And in the unlikely event you got fired for being a normal person, plenty of lawyers, journalists, and broadcasters would be willing to help you. Just go on with your normal life and keep it to yourself. ("Sure boss. I promise to wash my hands 27 times per day.")
@JoeStrazzere True, except if WorriedWorker actually gets infected by the virus and quarantined as a result (assuming that could happen in the US). Then the crazy CEO will know that their crazy instructions have not been followed.
So let me get this right - the CEO is petrified that someone being out of work temporarily would be a huge blow to the company but is then willing to have them be gone permanently for having a normal life? Sounds like an empty threat to me.
@Roland - no, the CEO will still not know how the OP got infected if it comes to that. And if fired for being infected, there are plenty of outlets that would be happy to challenge the firing in court and publicize the event.
Many CEO's and CEO wannabe's fancy themselves as "snap decision-makers". They actually value making quick decisive decisions about serious matters, like Captain Kirk on Star Trek. This is real and it is showing up now in a time of threat. As an example, see the infamous letter that Sequoia Capital penned last week (medium.com/sequoia-capital/…), where they even recommend headcount reduction as a reaction to the pandemic. 1/2...
2/2. And state, without parody that "Having weathered every business downturn for nearly fifty years, we’ve learned an important lesson — nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances. " It's really sad that the well-being of employees, and functioning society takes a back seat to not losing a dime, even temporarily, for them.
@17of26 The CEO in question isn't exactly thinking rationally about this situation, but there is a possibility that you're right about it being a bluff.
Discussion on question by WorriedWork…
Discussion on question by WorriedWork…