Employers who tell staff returning from SARS-affected areas to stay away from the office are acting in excess of advice issued by the Department of Health.
Some employers, including the Attorney General's office, have told employees returning from such areas to remain out of the workplace for up to two weeks, The Irish Times has learned.
A spokesman for the Department said it had not advocated such a policy.
Staff returning from SARS-affected areas were being advised to monitor their health and seek urgent medical attention if they developed the symptoms of SARS, the spokesman said.
There was no policy, however, of advising people returning from these areas to remain away from the office for the SARS incubation period of up to 10 days.
The Department denied, however, that the action of the Attorney General's office suggested official policy on the issue was incoherent.
"I do think we have been quite clear on this, but some employers will feel the need to be extra careful," the spokesman said.
However, he added, the Department saw "no necessity for people to quarantine themselves if they do not have the symptoms".
In advice issued to employers and workers late last month, the Health and Safety Authority said people returning from known infected areas should immediately contact their GP if they developed SARS symptoms.
These were a high fever, in excess of 38° degrees, and one or more respiratory symptoms including coughing, shortness of breath and/or difficulty in breathing.
"The HSA strongly advises that employees should not be asked to visit infected areas on either business or pleasure," it said.
The affected areas as currently listed by the Department of Health on its website are China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Mr Michael Gillen, health and safety executive with the employers' body, IBEC, said he was aware of a couple of cases where employees had expressed concern about working alongside someone returning from an affected area.
Concerns of that kind were based on fear and ignorance, he said. "The most important thing to do is to inform employees as to what SARS is and debunk the myths."
