Even with a diagnosed health condition, the ADA does not grant any employee the right to *dictate* whatever accommodations they desire; rather, employers are required to initiate an “interactive process” of negotiating reasonable accommodations.

Not wearing necessary safety equipment is under no circumstances a reasonable accommodation. Negotiating alternative safety equipment would be the very limit.

I was chatting with someone on linkedIn who was telling me, a hospital worker, that I was wrong about HIPPA. They didnt even know what PHI was.

At this point I think anyonr who is anti mask in the US is just willfully ignorant.

People seem to think that they should be free to skip the mask because it’s their right to run whatever risks they choose to run with their own health. It’s really unintuitive that they should wear a mask to prevent them from spreading to others a disease that they’re sure they don’t have because they feel just fine. If I were in HR trying to enforce masks, I’d work on explaining the concept of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers very thoroughly.

I don’t hire, I don’t manage, and I don’t own. Up until July 1 when I retired, I was a regular, normal, everyday employee.

But it simply rubs me the wrong way, for several reasons, why in this case employees/workers feel entitled to not wear masks because “I don’t choose to.”

And in general, in the broader area of life, the mindset by so many of I can do whatever I want and you have to go along with it just because it suits me, got really old a long time ago.

Thanks again for this article and advice. Much appreciated.