It is the policy of this District to ensure, so far as possible, that every employee has a safe and healthful place in which to work. It is also the policy of this District to help each employee recognize his/her responsibilities for safe employment, and require that he/she adhere to those responsibilities.
Physical Examinations
Employees will be required to submit to a pre-employment physical examination, after an offer of employment has been made and before the beginning of service. The District will provide the standard examination form to be completed by an appropriately licensed health care provider who performs the physical examination. A written report of the physical examination shall be submitted to the District. The date by which any such physical examination report shall be submitted to the district shall be determined by the Superintendent.
Bus drivers will be examined using all applicable state and federal criteria at the beginning of employment and upon expiration of their certificate from their medical examiner.
Fitness-for-duty examinations may be required following an absence from work due to illness, if there is a reasonable belief that the employee is unable to perform the essential functions of the job, or if there is a reasonable belief that the employee poses a direct threat to the employee or others because of a health condition. A direct threat occurs when an individual poses a significant risk of substantial harm to him/herself or others and the risk cannot be reduced below the direct threat level through reasonable accommodations.
All information regarding the medical condition or history of an employee must be kept in files separate from the employee’s personnel records and treated as a confidential medical record subject to state and federal confidentiality laws.
The cost of an initial physical examination is set through negotiations and the certified bargaining unit for certified staff as well as a bargaining unit for classified staff.
Communicable Diseases
The District recognizes that some employees with a communicable disease, as defined by law, may be able to attend to their customary employment duties without creating a risk of transmission of the illness to the students or other employees. The District also recognizes that there may be a greater risk of transmission of some communicable diseases for some employees with certain conditions than for other employees infected with the same disease.
Employees with a communicable disease will be allowed to perform their customary duties, provided they are able to perform the essential functions of their position and their presence does not pose a direct threat. A direct threat occurs when an individual poses a significant risk of substantial harm to him/herself or others and the risk cannot be reduced below the direct threat level through reasonable accommodations.
An employee who is at work and who has a communicable disease that poses a direct threat, as defined above, shall report the condition to the Superintendent any time the employee is aware that the employee’s condition poses a direct threat. Any individual who has information that a District employee may have a communicable disease is encouraged to report the information to the Superintendent.
The Superintendent shall determine on a case-by-case basis whether the presence of an employee with a communicable disease in the District environment constitutes a direct threat. In making this determination, the Superintendent shall consider credible, objective evidence. If the Superintendent, after reviewing the credible, objective evidence, determines the employee’s presence may constitute a direct threat, the Superintendent may request additional medical information from the employee’s physician (with the employee’s consent), a physician chosen by the District or public health officials, to confirm the Superintendent’s determination.
Upon order of the Iowa Department of Health or local board of health, an individual with a suspected or active quarantinable disease shall not attend the workplace or school and shall not be present at other public places until the individual receives the approval of the department or a local board of health to engage in such activity. Upon order of the department or local board of health, employers, schools and other public places shall exclude an individual with a suspected or active quarantinable disease. An individual may also be excluded from other premises or facilities if the department or a local board of health determines the premises or facilities cannot be maintained in a manner adequate to protect others against the spread of the disease.
All information regarding the medical condition or history of an employee must be kept in files separate from the employee’s personnel records and treated as a confidential medical record subject to state and federal law.
*Adopted: 12/13/10
* Revised: 03/12/12
*Revised: 12/15/15
*Reviewed: 04/10/17
*Revised: 05/11/20
*Reviewed: 04/11/22