Remote Work, Medical Accommodations, and Safety Accountability

How do I stay compliant with remote employees?

Question: My billing coordinator is moving out of state. They don’t technically need to be in the office, and they’re a great employee, so I’d like to let them keep their position and work remotely. Are there any specific laws that apply to remote employees that I need to know about?

The Legal Side: There aren’t any “remote-specific” laws, but there are state-specific laws that you and your employee will be subject to once they move. Depending on the state involved, the rules might be nearly identical to your own… or you might feel like you’ve landed on a different HR planet.

The rule is that the state laws in which the worker performs the work are the ones that you must follow, regardless of your business’s primary location. So, there is a high likelihood that you can’t simply apply your current state’s policies and compliance practices and hope for the best. This is definitely an area where CEDR members benefit from our research and our telling them what the differences will be. We also provide policies, posters, notices, training for your manager, and anything else you need to stay in compliance. Trying to DIY a multi-state setup is a quick way to end up out of compliance.

Then there’s the tax and insurance side of things. You’ll need to register as an employer in the new state, set up any required payroll and unemployment accounts, and add your employee’s home as a workplace under your workers’ comp policy. How difficult this is varies by state.

Depending on your industry, you will also need to consider HIPAA compliance. If the employee will have access to protected health information, all applicable HIPAA regulations will apply. Your IT company can help with securing remote access.

We highly recommend that you spend some time exploring what your legal and business obligations will involve before committing to your employee that you will allow her to work remotely.

The Human Side: Retaining a current great employee can be an excellent benefit for both parties, but only if all the ground rules are set in advance and everyone understands them.

Note that remote workers, and thus their managers, experience a new set of challenges that go beyond the nuts and bolts of HR compliance, too.

Working alone, in another state, in a slightly different time zone, is way different for the manager and the employee. Challenges include maintaining engagement, accountability, and quality of work. Where they used to be able to spin around and ask the person behind them a clarifying question or for help, they will now have a completely different experience. Keeping them engaged as part of the team will also require extra effort and involvement on the manager’s part.

Start by outlining communication expectations: How often should they check in? What’s the protocol for urgent questions? Which channels (email, text, Zoom) are appropriate for what? A little structure goes a long way in preventing misunderstandings.

Next, talk about availability. Remote doesn’t mean “always on,” but you’ll want to clarify core working hours (especially if they will be in a different zone), responsiveness standards, and how to handle time off when you can’t physically see them walking out the door.

Then look at the practical side. What kind of equipment will they need? Tech support? If they’re going to represent your business from another state, make sure they’re set up for success and not stuck troubleshooting their Wi-Fi alone in the wilderness.

Remote employees can unintentionally drift to the edges of the team. Be intentional about looping them in, celebrating their wins, and keeping them part of the day-to-day rhythm of your workplace. A little connection goes a long way. If you are not already scheduling weekly one-on-ones with your team, you will want to start with this employee.  

How far do I need to go to accommodate a medical condition?

Medical accommodations can feel straightforward on the surface, but the interactive process is where employers get into trouble fast. Even SHRM, the largest HR professional association in the United States, is currently facing litigation over allegations that it failed to properly handle a disability accommodation request.

Question: One of my employees needs regular schedule adjustments because their medical condition tends to flare up in the morning. I usually do not know until that morning whether I need to adjust their schedule. I understand I have to provide medical accommodations, but how far do I have to go? Can I ask for a doctor’s note to confirm their condition? The last-minute scheduling changes have a domino effect on the entire day, and it is getting harder to manage.

The Legal Side: How far you need to go starts with documenting the request and engaging in the interactive process. That process helps answer two key questions. First, whether the employee is entitled to an accommodation under the laws that apply to you. Second, whether a reasonable accommodation exists without creating an undue hardship.
Even if you are unsure whether you are legally required to accommodate based on employee count or state law, engaging in the interactive process is still a smart first step. It creates documentation, demonstrates good faith, and often leads to productive conversations where a workable middle ground can be found.

Can you ask for medical documentation?
Yes. As part of the interactive process, you may request medical documentation that confirms the need for an accommodation and outlines the employee’s functional limitations. You are generally not entitled to a diagnosis, but you can request enough information to evaluate what adjustments make sense. This becomes especially important when accommodations involve unpredictable, same-day schedule changes.

A best practice is to provide the employee with clear instructions or a form for their healthcare provider that focuses on:

• Functional limitations related to the job
• The expected frequency or variability of flare-ups, if known
• What types of schedule flexibility may be helpful

The role and operational impact matter:
Reasonableness is not evaluated in a vacuum. The employee’s role, team size, and operational needs all factor into the analysis. A last-minute schedule change may have very different implications depending on whether the employee is in a coverage-critical role or one with built-in flexibility. These distinctions matter and should be documented as part of the process.

A note on policies…
Many employers unintentionally create problems here by relying on borrowed templates or writing their own policies without understanding how state and federal rules interact with leave, disability, attendance, and accommodations. Policies written without nuance can create inconsistencies, lock you into rigid expectations, or introduce language that contradicts what the law requires. This is one of the most common places where well-intentioned employers stumble.

The Human Side: From a leadership perspective, it is important to be transparent and constructive. Let the employee know you want to support them, and also explain that last-minute schedule changes are affecting operations and their ability to perform essential job functions.

This conversation is not corrective action. It is part of the interactive process, where both sides are gathering information and working toward a solution. Expectations may need to evolve as more information becomes available, and adjustments may be required over time.

Because accommodation requests require individualized legal and operational analysis, do not use generic templates or AI-generated guidance. Involve an HR professional before documenting decisions or responding to accommodation requests.

Handled correctly, the interactive process protects everyone involved and helps keep the business moving forward without creating unnecessary risk.

I caught an employee lying about a safety requirement. How do I address this?

Question: The employee who serves as our OSHA officer hasn’t been completing their assigned tasks as required. I was able to verify this with the company they are supposed to send information to. When I asked about it, the employee lied straight to my face and said they hadn’t missed anything. What should my next steps be? Should I address the lying? 

The Legal Side: The primary legal concern here is that this is a compliance failure that might put patient safety, your license, and your business at risk. If an employee is assigned safety responsibilities and those duties aren’t being completed, the liability ultimately sits with the employer. From a risk standpoint, your immediate priority is to confirm what was missed, correct it, and put safeguards in place so it doesn’t happen again. That might mean reassigning oversight, adding checks and balances, or changing who is responsible for these duties altogether.

The Human Side: Lying may not be illegal, but it is a legitimate performance and conduct issue. Most policies treat dishonesty as a serious violation, and rightly so. That being said, you should give the employee an opportunity to respond. Be direct and calm: explain what you were told, what you learned from the third party, and where the discrepancy lies.

Once trust is broken, especially in a safety-related role, it’s hard to rebuild. This employee must understand that accuracy and honesty are non-negotiable expectations, regardless of workload or confusion about the process. The combination of a compliance failure and dishonesty may call for a corrective action beyond a first-step warning – maybe even separation.

As we mentioned above, you should also evaluate whether this employee is the right person to hold a role that requires precision, follow-through, and trust.

Bottom line: correct the compliance gap first, address the dishonesty directly, and document everything. Safety roles demand a higher standard, and it’s important that you hold them to it.