By Chet Scheltema and Hazel Wang of Dezan Shira & Associates
Dec. 7 – Chinese government policy and legal guidelines for handling infectious diseases among the workforce have recently undergone major revisions and are now relatively straightforward and unambiguous. Those diseases serious enough to require isolation and quarantine are clearly identified, and any employee suspected of having such an infection would need to be reported to the relevant health authorities and removed from the workforce.
The notion that that there are laws mandating the provision of special, segregated dining facilities for employees infected with communicable diseases remains unconfirmed and of doubtful validity. This belief may have arisen from the prevalence of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the Chinese population and the historical misunderstanding about its communicability. Some employers or organizations may have felt compelled to respond to widespread fear and may have segregated HBV carriers from the rest of the workforce during dining or when providing them with lodging. These informal practices may be the foundation for the belief that employers are required to provide special dining facilities to Chinese employees infected with certain diseases.
When there is concern that an “infectious disease” is present among the workforce, Chinese law mandates that the concern be immediately reported to Chinese health authorities for assessment in order to determine if isolation and quarantine are required (see Law of the PRC on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases). Those infectious diseases requiring immediate quarantine include the following:
- Plague and Cholera
- HIV or AIDS
- Viral Hepatitis
- Bacillary and Amebic Dysentery
- Typhoid and Paratyphoid
- Anthrax
- Typhus
- Measles
- Pertussis
- Diphtheria
- Poliomyelitis
- Epidemic Cerebrospinal Meningitis
- Scarlet Fever
- Epidemic Hemorrhagic Fever
- Dengue Fever
- Gonorrhea
- Syphilis
- Pulmonary Tuberculosis
- Leprosy
- Epidemic Parotitis
- Rubella
- Acute Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis
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