Epic Systems Corp. employees will not immediately be required to return to work as the company works to clarify plans with Public Health Madison and Dane County.
Epic Systems Corp. relaxed its return-to-work mandates for employees following a letter from Dane County's public health department that questioned whether the company's plan would comply with the county-wide public health order.
The Verona-based electronic health records giant said employees will not have to begin returning to work Monday, as previously planned, while it seeks clarification on how to administer the plan within rules set in Public Health Madison and Dane County's public health order setting requirements on businesses and residents of the county while the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
"While our intention is to return staff to campus, we are adjusting the timeframe as we work with public health officials to gain their agreement on our plan," chief administrative officer Sverre Roang said in a statement.
Epic was widely criticized by employees last week for its plans to require employees begin returning to the office beginning Monday while COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Wisconsin.
About a third of Epic's nearly 10,000 employees have been working from the office for some of all of the time since the coronavirus began its rapid spread in Wisconsin in March, Epic has said. The company had planned to call a first-phase of workers back to the office Monday with all phases required to work from the office by the end of September.
Employees with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for COVID-19 could ask for a meeting with the human resources department for an extension to work from home until Nov. 2.
Epic employees this week decried the company's decision to require workers return to the office. Dozens of employees spoke to news media, including the State Journal, to air frustration and dismay that leaders within the company would not delay the return to campus, even with high case numbers in Dane County.
Employees were told in an email sent Saturday night that they would not be required to return to work if they are not comfortable returning while Epic waits for further guidance from Public Health Madison and Dane County.
"If you are in phase one (of the return plan) and do not feel that your personal circumstances or concerns allow you to return to campus, you are no longer required to do so," Epic leadership wrote in the email obtained by the State Journal.
Employees who do not come into the office are required to notify the human resources department by Wednesday that they are still working from home, according to the email.
The decision comes after Public Health Madison and Dane County wrote to Epic with concerns about noncompliance.
While "technically not currently in violation" of the county's July public health order, Epic's plan could institute a violation when workers begin returning to campus in September, public health services supervisor Bonnie Koenig wrote in the letter obtained by the State Journal.
The health department's problem with the return to work plan refers to a section of the plan that mandates businesses "limit staff and customers in offices, facilities and stores." The section also states, "All businesses should, to the greatest extent possible, facilitate remote work and other measures that limit the number of individuals present at an office, facility or store."
In the letter, Koenig asks Epic to provide information that "demonstrates why all staff are needed to return to the office in September."
The health department's letter refers to a meeting Epic leaders had with the department to discuss the return to work plan July 28.
"While discussing some rationale for bringing all staff back, Epic also stated that it believed that it was facilitating remote work by requiring staff to work in the office but allowing them to work alone in their office," Koenig wrote. "We we explained on that call, Epic's interpretation is incorrect."
To guide its health safety plans, Epic hired Dr. Steve Ostroff, a former acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner and leader for infectious disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and experts from the Cleveland Clinic to review the company's return to work plan, Roang said.
Epidemiologist and former top public health official for Orange County, California, Dr. Nicky Quick has also been hired, Roang said.
"It is our hope that by working together we can be a model for other businesses around the country on how to safely bring staff back to work," Roang said.
Epic's return to work plan included statements that all employees could work in a private office if requested. Employees, who spoke to the State Journal on the condition that their names not be printed for fear of retaliation, said new walls were being built to divide existing offices. In a video promoting the return-to-work plan, one of Epic's facilities workers, Derek Schnabel, also touted the company's air filtration system, which he said is hospital-grade quality.
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August 09, 2020 at 10:48AM
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Epic Systems loosens mandates on employees returning to work - Madison.com
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