Darkreading.com reported that "The balance between employee health and privacy rights is difficult to strike, especially at a time when organizations are making critical decisions based on health-related information."  The March 16, 2020 report entitled "Privacy in a Pandemic: What You Can (and Can't) Ask Employees" included these comments from Bart Willemsen (research vice president at Gartner):

Privacy rules and regulations differ by company, industry, and state.

As a result, it's difficult to provide detailed guidance on what employers should do.

Modern privacy and data protection laws, like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, don't prevent businesses from recording certain information,...

For example, employers must record data necessary to determine if salaries are being paid, or information related to the workspace physician providing treatment to an employee.

However, health-related data must be treated differently.

Only time will tell, but after the Pandemic the world will likely be very different!!

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.