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can be made available for those employees who have been exposed to otherindividuals diagnosed with a disease or who are under close observation andmonitoring. If a business has a suspected case of Ebola or other disease at work, thebusiness should not immediately rush to send out a notification letter. Instead, thebusiness should gather facts (not rumors) and immediately consult with an infectiousdisease expert and an attorney about the careful wording of a notification letter and thebest course of action. If the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(“HIPAA”) applies to a business, then the business must also be careful of HIPAAviolations when handling certain information related to the health of an infectedemployee, or when there is a need to inform other employees of possible exposure. 84A pandemic may lead to employee absence in the workplace, and many employeesmay work from home. If employees are quarantined by the CDC due to possibleinfection or are asked by local health authorities to stay home, businesses can granttime off for FMLA leave. If asked to send employees home, businesses may berequired to pay the employees who are exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act(“FLSA”), but not their non-exempt employees. 85Of course, prevention is still the best medicine, and businesses should adopt commonsense policies or protocols. For example, after the H1N1 flu scare years ago,employers put in reasonable low cost measures to help stop the spread of that disease,such as extra hand sanitizing stations and posters reminding employees to frequentlywash their hands. Businesses can adopt such measures at work and also remind84 See 42 U.S.C. § 1320(d) et seq.85 See 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.March 5, 2015 27 @ 3-5-2015 ALFA International6427256.3/SP/00009/0099/011215