Can your boss force you to wear a face mask at work? Here’s what the experts say

The U.S. has reported 3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the midst of a resurgence caused in part by state reopenings, and mask mandates are becoming more common in response, CNN reports.

Employers have to follow mask regulations in states that require face coverings in public, but what if employees don’t want to wear one? Can an employer make them wear a mask?

The short answer is yes, according to legal experts.

“When the employer has business necessity, the law allows it,” Randy Stevenson, chair of Baird Holm law firm’s Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Law Group in Nebraska, told WDSU. “It means the employer has a good faith reasonable concern about the employee’s health.”

Stevenson says even if state and local officials don’t require the public to wear masks, employers still have the power to mandate face coverings among their workers, WDSU reported. Employers, though, have to make accommodations for workers with disabilities who can’t wear face coverings, Stevenson told WDSU.

Employers have the right to discipline or fire an employee who chooses not to wear a mask at work, according to Bloomberg Law. Even workers represented by unions have little legal recourse if an employer disciplines or fires them for not adhering to mask policies, Bloomberg reported.

“In essence, they’re saying, ‘I really don’t want to work here,’” Katherine Dudley Helms, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins representing employers, told Bloomberg. “That really is like someone coming in and saying ‘I don’t like your rules.’”

While employers have always had the power to change rules and regulations for their employees, workers have even less say after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a guidance encouraging the general public to use cloth face masks in early April, according to the Prinz Law Firm in Chicago, which deals in employment law.

“[Employees] would be opposing an otherwise lawful workplace policy, and now the CDC’s guidance would support the employer’s mask policy, not an employee’s refusal,” Prinz says. “In most instances, a mask requirement would be lawful and a refusal to wear one could be grounds for termination.”

There are a few instances where an employee can reasonably refuse to wear a mask, according to Prinz. If a mask interferes with your job, creates potential for a workplace hazard, or exacerbates an employee’s medical condition, a worker can ask the employer to help them find an alternative, Prinz says.