“Effective immediately, employees with a POSITIVE Covid test who are Asymptomatic or only have Mild Symptoms may continue to work so long as that employee feels well enough to work.”-UCH Internal Email
Months after mandating vaccinations for their frontline workers, hospitals are now encouraging or even coercing employees, under the threat of punitive action, to come to work while infected with COVID-19. Since the expiration of the federally mandated 80 hours of COVID sick leave, workers have to weigh the options of exhausting their own sick time to recover from the virus or come to work while ill. An Employee with the University of Colorado Health hospital system told WDTW she has no PTO available and had no choice but to come to work while infected with COVID-19 to avoid a loss of income. Her partner is currently using FMLA to recover from hip surgery to repair an injury sustained while working in the same department.
WDTW obtained an internal email (attached below) from University of Colorado Health and distributed to all staff members (it's quoted above) detailing the parameters by which an infected employee may come to work. While the email does not define exactly what constitutes “mild symptoms,” it does detail that employees should return to work if they’re feeling “symptoms of a runny nose, sore throat, body aches and/or loss of taste or smell unless your symptoms worsen”. While the actual definition of a symptom is the subjective interpretation of a sensation as reported by the patient, this statement gives managers a certain amount of latitude to pressure the employee to come to work, under the threat of punitive measures, despite the employee not feeling well. One CT (computed tomography) technician who spoke to WDTW under the condition of anonymity recounted how her supervisor threatened her with a write up should she miss one more day of work without an approved FMLA request (she spoke to us after her shift, while positive with COVID-19).
Further confusing the entire front line staff at UCH, this email gently advises its employees that while a negative COVID test is not required to return to work, those employees who chose not to get vaccinated are still required to provide weekly negative tests.
Nearly 1 in 4 people in Colorado are currently COVID positive; many are experiencing their second or third case of the virus (23.32% positivity rate). In Colorado nearly a quarter of all hospital beds in the state are occupied by a COVID-19 patient, and more than ⅓ of the state's ventilators are being used by a COVID patient; it really begs the question of resource management.
“It is interesting how we’ve shifted from the beginning of the pandemic and having to walk COVID swabs to the laboratory to now being nearly mandated to come to work with the virus.” anonymous UCH EDT
Early in the pandemic, the UCH policy for transporting COVID swabs to the laboratory was to hand-deliver the swabs as opposed to using the pneumatic tube system usually utilized to transport blood or other samples to the lab. However, due to heightened concern over the spread of COVID should one of these tubes rupture in the system, workers were instructed to hand-deliver the samples to the lab. Furthermore, UCH asserts that it is following evidence-based practice with its current infection control guidelines (specifically the return-to-work policy), which flies directly in the face of the CDC’s own recommendation that you can still be contagious after a five-day quarantine. The DNA of this: healthcare workers are being encouraged to come to work while infectious with a deadly disease.
While this behavior is not unique to UCH, it is still leaving frontline staff flummoxed. They enter their workplace walking past posters saying “not all heroes wear capes, some wear masks” only to be told they should come to work with a deadly disease that they will not be compensated for should that disease incapacitate them from working.
With a unionization campaign currently driving titanic momentum at UCH, the University of Colorado Workers United, a branch of the Commercial Workers of America Local 7799, are harnessing this frustration that the institution continues to foment. Each day the campaign gains new members, new ground, and new energy. All around the country, we’re seeing the strain this virus has put on the current structures of our economy. Government and union leadership find themselves cornered and flailing as the workforce pushes back with walkouts and wildcat strikes forcing leadership into a hard reckoning over their relationship to the current state of affairs. For more information on UCHWU or to join the union, please go to https://www.uchwu.org/contact.
To reach out to We Do The Work with your stories simply email contactwdtw@gmail.com.
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Hello again amazing team!! We want to continue to keep you all up to date on things that are rapidly changing to meet the needs of our hospitals, our testing centers, our staff and our community. Please read this email and the enclosed updates and feel free to come to us with any questions!!!
Updates to Employee Testing Guidelines
Effective immediately, for employees with Mild Symptoms of Covid (see below in Covid Update #100 for details), No symptoms, or a home/work Covid exposure, there is NO testing requirement , or need to call Employee Health/Covid Hotline and the staff member may continue to work if they feel well enough to do so.
Employees experiencing Major Symptoms of Covid (see below in Covid Update #100 for details) should not report to work and should notify Charge for an initial missed shift and schedule testing through My Health Connection, oneSource, or the UCHealth app.
Employees with Covid Vaccination Exemptions will now only need to test once weekly until January 28th or until further guidelines are disseminated.
***As a reminder, if you have tested POSITIVE for Covid, you will not need to be retested for Covid for 90 days, even if symptomatic.
Updates to the Return-to-Work Guidelines
Effective immediately, employees with a POSITIVE Covid test who are Asymptomatic or only have Mild Symptoms may continue to work so long as that employee feels well enough to work.
Employees experiencing the Major Symptoms outlined in the email below and testing POSITIVE for Covid, should not report to work and should reach out to Matt, Laura, and I via UCHealthMetroDenver-EDNurseManagers@uchealth.org for guidance on return to work.
Please know that we mean it sincerely when we say that SICK IS SICK. If you feel ill or in any way unable to work due to illness or injury, we still want you to stay home and prioritize your health and wellness.
We continue to be amazed at the incredible work you all do and the positivity you bring despite the many challenges.
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