Communicating about Employee-Related Health Issues

Purpose:

To share best practices and tips about sharing health information about self and others in the course of one's job.

DISCLAIMER: This guidance is provided in recognition that our jobs require occasional communication about personal medical conditions, however it is not meant to replace or substitute for official or legal guidance regarding communications that fall under HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) or other legal frameworks protecting medical privacy. 

Definitions:

Health information: for purposes of this article, this includes any verbal or written mention of an individual's known or suspected physical or mental illness or condition.

Tips:

• Only What's Necessary: When there is a work-related need to communicate details about an employee's health condition (whether your own or someone else's), try to follow the 'principle of minimum necessary requirement': limit the written or verbal communication to only include information necessary to fulfill the business purpose.

  • Example: A professor emails chair and department manager to say they are unexpectedly ill and must cancel class. The department manager puts a note on the classroom door:

    • OK: "ABC 301 at 10AM is cancelled today due to Prof. Bird's illness." 

    • Not OK: "ABC 301 at 10AM is cancelled today–Prof. Bird has been vomiting and pooping since 3AM and is too weak to leave the toilet."

• Protect Privacy: The university is committed to protecting the privacy of its employees, and it expects those of us who encounter employee health-related information to do the same. Again, follow the principle of communicating only the minimum information required about a situation to individuals who have a business need to know about it.  

• Keep it Separate:
  • The University of Texas at Austin Records Retention Schedule (UTRRS) states that a record-keeping entity (such as a department) "must be able to produce non-medical employee records separately from employee medical records or information."
  • The HOP states that "Any document containing medical information about an employee is considered a medical record and is regarded as confidential. Human Resources will maintain medical records in a file separate from all other employee records." (5-4310, sec.I.) 
  • There are times when you will have a business need to handle someone else's medical record (per the previous definition), such as if you are a supervisor, and an employee who was out on approved FMLA sends you their Return to Work Form. This is appropriate and follows established university policy. But if you have a folder where you store documents related to that employee, you'll want to make a separate folder for storing any health- or medical-related records for that person. (And follow the relevant records management procedure for disposal, after the retention period is met.)

• In Sum: When we (COLA HR) ask you to notify us about employee health conditions, we’re only expecting you to communicate enough information to meet the needs of the given scenario.  

  • For example, when we ask that you let us know that you’ve received a Return to Work Release form, you don’t need to send us the form; just send an email verifying that you have the form on file in the department.
  • That said, we’re not trying to create anxiety about any of this. Just asking you to use your judgment to keep communications simple, protecting others’ privacy while fulfilling needed tasks.