(a) Staff to be excluded. The permittee shall exclude any staff person from work in accordance with 24 RCNY Health Code Article 11, if such staff person reports having an illness or symptoms of a communicable disease reportable, pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code Article 11. Such staff person shall not be permitted to return to the program without a written statement of recovery from a health care provider if the staff person was a case of measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), scarlet fever, meningitis (all types), or poliomyelitis, or if the staff person was a case of any other communicable disease reportable, pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code Article 11.
(b) Physical examination certificates. No member of the teaching staff or shelter child supervision staff, or substitute, volunteer worker, office worker, kitchen worker, maintenance worker, or other staff member who regularly associates with children shall be permitted to work in a program unless such person is healthy and capable of carrying out the responsibilities of the job. Prior to commencing work, all such individuals shall present a certificate from a licensed health care provider certifying that, on the basis of medical history and physical examination, such individual is physically and mentally able to perform assigned duties. Such certificate shall be submitted every two years thereafter as a condition of employment. Certificates of required physical examinations and other medical or personal health information about staff shall be kept on file on paper or electronically, on the premises of the program, and shall be kept confidential and separate from all other personnel or employment records and made available for review by the Department upon request.
(c) Staff and volunteer immunizations.
(1) Each staff and volunteer must obtain a report from a health care provider who is a licensed physician, nurse practitioner, physician's assistant, or doctor of osteopathy certifying that such person has been immunized with 2 doses of measles-containing vaccine; 2 doses of mumps-containing vaccine; 1 dose of rubella-containing vaccine; 2 doses of varicella-containing vaccine (chicken pox); 1 dose of tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap). Persons born on or before December 31, 1956 are not required to have measles, mumps or rubella vaccines. A history of having health care provider documented varicella or herpes zoster disease is acceptable in place of varicella vaccine. A history of having measles, mumps or rubella disease shall not be substituted for the measles, mumps or rubella vaccine. A laboratory test demonstrating detectable varicella, measles, mumps, or rubella antibodies is also acceptable in place of varicella, measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. A staff or volunteer may be exempted from this immunization requirement for medical contraindications in accordance with ACIP or other nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines upon submission of appropriate documentation from a treating licensed physician. Each staff and volunteer must submit such report of immunization to the permittee.
(2) Reports of immunizations shall be confidential and must be kept by the permittee in a paper or electronic file with other staff and volunteer health information, except that such reports must be made available to the Department immediately upon request. Documentation of exemption from immunization must also be kept on site and made available to the Department immediately upon request. If such records are maintained electronically, Department staff must be allowed to access such records while on-site.
(3) No permittee or person in charge of a childcare program shall permit any staff or volunteer to attend such program without appropriate documentation of the immunizations required pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision.
(d) Test for tuberculosis infection. The Department may require testing for tuberculosis at any time of any persons in a program when such testing is deemed necessary for epidemiological investigation.
(Amended City Record 9/20/2016, eff. 10/20/2016; amended City Record 9/20/2017, eff. 10/10/2017; amended City Record 6/12/2018, eff. 7/12/2018; amended City Record 12/26/2019, eff. 1/25/2020)