L'Oreal USA is requiring employees to hand over their medical history to continue working from home — and it could be a sign of what's to come

• L'Oréal US employees who want to work from home are being required to give the company access to their medical history, two current L'Oreal employees confirmed.
• Beauty watchdog Instagram account esteelaundry shared a photo of the form employees must sign that releases "information regarding any physical or mental limitation(s)" that could affect their ability to "safely perform work" during the pandemic.
• According to Helen Rella, an employment and labor lawyer at Wilk Auslander, L'Oreal is perfectly within its rights to request medical records from its employees who are requesting accommodations.
• "We have never seen a situation like this before with anticipated mass applications for disability-based accommodations," Rella said. "Employers and employees are encouraged to work together in an interactive process to address the situation and keep the workforce functioning."
• L'Oreal did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

As the US slowly reopens, employers are grappling with how — if at all — to bring people back into the office.

In the case of L'Oréal USA, a push to return to the office has some employees in an uncomfortable situation. Those employees who wish to remain working from home must provide L'Oreal with access to their medical records in order for any accommodations from the company to be considered, according to a post on beauty watchdog Instagram account esteelaundry.

The post, which was published about a week ago, shows the form that L'Oreal employees can sign that would release "information regarding any physical or mental limitation(s)" that may affect their ability to "safely perform work," during the pandemic, which they must fill out if they wish to remain working from home. Two current L'Oreal employees confirmed the arrangement to Business Insider.

#LOrealUSA has been strongly advising their employees to return back to the office, when they can work from home. To apply for an exemption, employees are required to give L’Oréal access to their medical history so they can determine whether any accommodations are required. Is this ethical? Thoughts, #Laundrites? #LOreal #COVID19

A post shared by Estée Laundry (@esteelaundry) on Jul 26, 2020 at 1:02am PDTJul 26, 2020 at 1:02am PDT

L'Oreal USA employs nearly 11,000 people. The company did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

The legal implications of requesting medical records

According to Helen Rella, an employment and labor lawyer at Wilk Auslander, L'Oreal is perfectly within its rights to request access to medical records from its employees who are requesting to stay at home.

Rella explained that it is up to an employer to set the terms and conditions of employment, which includes where the job is physically carried out. Since statewide restrictions and stay-at-home orders have been lifted, employees have technically been required to come back into work if their job demands it and could be subject to termination of they refuse.

However, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on disabilities, allows employees with underlying medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 to request accommodations from their employers, which includes working from home.

In the event an employee makes this type of request, the employer has the legal right to ask for pertaining medical certification and records in order to justify any accommodation.

"Employee medical records are considered highly confidential and an employer may only request information related to the stated disability and need for an accommodation, and may not generally request all medical records of the employee," said Rella.

The practice of releasing medical information to one's employer during the process of requesting workplace accommodations has been the norm in employment law for some time. But the pandemic is making situations like these a lot more common across a variety of workplaces, Rella said.

"We have never seen a situation like this before with anticipated mass applications for disability-based accommodations," Rella said. "Employers and employees are encouraged to work together in an interactive process to address the situation and keep the workforce functioning."

Are you an employee in retail working during the pandemic? Email retail@businessinsider.com to share your story.