I’ve been approached by a company looking to build site that can gauge how an employee is feeling before coming to work. Idea being that the employee answers some basic questions (Do you have a temperature, have you been in contact with anyone with covid) etc. Their manager can then pull a CSV report and see how everyone is feeling, and make the call if they should come into work.
I believe HIPAA is only for Health Care Providers etc, and not everyone? Would asking how someone feels count under HIPAA?
This sounds really unusual and not recommended. How can a manager determine with certainty what call to make? Are these managers HR or medical experts? If the manager misses something or the employee doesn’t capture everything accurately, then this exposes other employees and opens the company to liability. There are a number of measures I’ve seen to address employee contagion risk. This is not one of them and I don’t think it should be.
In this instance, yes, they would be medical experts. It’s more of a guideline, not a requirement for the employee. It simply helps them to understand the symptoms. If it they say (for example) they have a temperature, it will advise them to call their manager for a chat before heading into work. The manager can then see their answers to the questions.
However, you can check here to see if you are required. Otherwise, maybe ask an attorney. 