EEOC: Workplace Covid Testing Now Must Be "Business Necessity"

With the COVID-19 pandemic, employers generally had broad discretion to require employees to take COVID-19 tests before entering the workplace. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") has recently revised its guidelines surrounding workplace testing for COVID-19. In a July 12 update to a series of Q&As, the EEOC explained that employers must assess whether "current pandemic circumstances and individual workplace circumstances justify viral screening testing of employees to prevent workplace transmission of COVID-19." Now, as with other medical testing, employers must demonstrate that any Covid testing requirement is "job-related and consistent with business necessity."