In the event of avian flu or other health crisis, employers likely will
face mass absenteeism of employees who become ill or must care for family
members or friends or choose not to come to work for fear of becoming
contaminated through exposure to other people. Employers may be able to
mitigate the adverse effect of widespread absenteeism by allowing
employees who are well enough to work from home. A telecommutingor
work-at-home policy raises a number of legal issues that ought to be
considered now before an employer is inundated with requests from
employees who want to work from home and maintain a salary stream during a
health or other crisis.
