The Sick Tech Policy SOP

Purpose

This procedure keeps a contagious tech out of customer homes, gets the day's calls covered, tells customers about changes before their window, and brings the tech back only when they are no longer a risk. Without it, the decision is made at 6 a.m. by a feverish person weighing a lost day's pay against a vague rule, and the answer is usually to come in. The reasoning (why techs work sick, the home exposure, paid sick leave law) lives in the companion reference card.

Scope

Covers: a technician who is ill on or before a working day with symptoms that could be contagious or that impair safe work: fever, vomiting or diarrhea, a new cough with fever, infectious pink eye, or a draining skin infection. It runs from the morning self-check to the first day back.

Does not cover: work injuries (the injury-reporting SOP); impairment by a substance (the substance-use policy); medical leave beyond about five working days, which becomes a leave-of-absence conversation and, where it applies, FMLA or state leave; and non-contagious conditions like a migraine, which are ordinary absence calls. A cold with no fever, vomiting or diarrhea is not a stay-home case here: the tech works, masks in homes if coughing, and is kept off the highest-risk households where dispatch can manage it.

Roles and responsibilities

The handoff that breaks most often is dispatcher to owner on overflow: a must-go call with no tech at the step 3 deadline is the owner's problem, never solved by calling the sick tech back in.

Procedure

1. Self-check before leaving home, by 6:00 for a 7:00 start. The tech asks four questions: Have I had a fever of 100.4 F or higher in the last 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine? Have I vomited or had diarrhea in the last 48 hours? Do I have a new cough together with fever? Do I have red, draining eyes or a draining sore? The acceptance condition is four clean no answers, given before any fever reducer is taken that morning, since a reading taken after the medicine means nothing. Wrong looks like a tech taking a fever reducer "to get through the day," or reasoning that the vomiting stopped last night so it is over. Stop rule: any yes means the tech does not go to work and moves to step 2. Hazard: a tech who is feverish, dehydrated or on drowsy cold medicine does not drive the van, to the shop or anywhere else, because impaired attention behind the wheel is the most immediate danger in this whole procedure.

2. Report to the dispatcher by 6:15. The tech calls or texts the dispatch line, not a coworker or group chat, with three things: the symptom category from step 1 (not a diagnosis), the expected days out, and anything unusual on today's calls (a part on the van, a promised callback). The acceptance condition is a timestamped report in the dispatch log by 6:15. Wrong looks like silence, a text to a buddy, or a report at 7:20 from the first customer's driveway. Stop rule: if a scheduled tech has not reported or shown up by 6:30, the dispatcher calls them; if there is no answer by 6:45, the dispatcher calls the tech's emergency contact, because a seriously ill tech who lives alone may be unable to call. Hazard: none at this step, it is a call made from home.

3. Triage every call on the sick tech's board by 7:00. Each call gets one disposition: must-go today (no heat in freezing weather, no cooling in extreme heat for a vulnerable household, an active leak, any safety call such as a gas odor), reassign if capacity allows, or reschedule. The acceptance condition is every call on the board carrying a disposition within 45 minutes of the report, and every must-go call carrying a named covering tech. Wrong looks like calls left sitting unassigned on the sick tech's lane at 7:00. Stop rule: if a must-go call has no covering tech at 7:00, it goes to the owner or manager, who decides between overtime, pulling a lower-priority call off another tech, or calling a trusted subcontractor; the dispatcher does not ask the sick tech to run it. Hazard: a covering tech stacked past about 12 hours of work in the day is a fatigue risk on the drive home, so the owner caps added calls rather than loading one person with the whole board.

4. Notify every affected customer at least 60 minutes before their original window starts. The dispatcher calls (texting as backup) each affected customer, says plainly the tech is out sick, and offers the new tech or a new time. For a high-risk household (someone elderly, immunocompromised, pregnant, or an infant, from the customer record or the call), the dispatcher confirms the covering tech is well. The acceptance condition is a logged contact, or two logged attempts, for every affected customer before the 60-minute mark. Wrong looks like a customer discovering the change when a different van arrives, or a customer waiting through a window nobody is coming to. Stop rule: if a customer cannot be reached after two attempts 30 minutes apart, leave a voicemail and text, keep the call on the board, and have the covering tech arrive in the original window. Hazard: none at this step, it is desk work.

5. Hand off notes and the van without contact. The sick tech sends job notes by text or the job record, never by stopping at the shop. If the covering tech needs the van or parts, keys are left out and the covering tech does not enter the house. The acceptance condition is the covering tech confirming notes received before leaving for the first reassigned call, and, where the van changes hands, the high-touch surfaces (steering wheel, shifter, door handles, tablet) wiped with a disinfectant before the covering tech drives. Wrong looks like the sick tech "just dropping the van off" and chatting in the shop. Stop rule: if notes are missing for a must-go call, the covering tech calls the sick tech by phone for a two-minute verbal handoff rather than going in blind. Hazard: disinfectant wipes are skin and eye irritants in a closed cab, so the covering tech wears gloves and leaves the doors open while wiping.

6. Code the day the same day. The owner or manager approves the day as paid sick time under the shop's policy and any state or local paid sick leave law that applies, and codes it so it does not count as an attendance occurrence. No doctor's note is required for three consecutive working days or fewer, a default at or inside what most state laws allow. The acceptance condition is a timesheet entry coded as sick, entered before payroll's daily cutoff. Wrong looks like the day coded unpaid or unexcused, or a doctor's note demanded after one day. Stop rule: if the tech has no paid sick hours left, the owner decides before payroll whether to advance hours or pay the day anyway; the tech is not told to come in instead. Hazard: none at this step, it is a payroll entry.

7. Run the return check before the first call back. On the morning the tech intends to return, they report to the dispatcher by 6:15 that they meet the return markers: for a respiratory illness, at least 24 hours fever-free without fever-reducing medicine and symptoms improving, then masking in customer homes and careful hand hygiene for the next 5 days; for vomiting or diarrhea, 48 hours since the last episode. The dispatcher logs the time of the last fever or last episode and computes the gap. The acceptance condition is a logged gap at or above the marker. Wrong looks like a tech who feels fine and comes back at 26 hours after diarrhea. Stop rule: below the marker, the tech stays home and repeats this step the next morning. Hazard: after a gastrointestinal illness the tech is likely still dehydrated, which sharply raises the risk of heat illness, so the first day back carries no attic, crawlspace or extended rooftop work in hot weather.

8. Close the record and review patterns monthly. At the close of the absence, the dispatcher completes the record (below). Monthly, the owner reviews all records for a cluster (three or more techs out with similar symptoms within seven days), which triggers a crew notice, a wipe-down of shared vans and the shop, and a look at whether someone came in sick. An individual pattern is a separate management conversation. The acceptance condition is a review completed and initialed by the 5th of the following month. Wrong looks like records never reviewed, so a crew outbreak looks like bad luck. Stop rule: a cluster found in review gets the crew notice within one working day. Hazard: none at this step, it is a desk review.

The record this produces

One record per absence, kept in the dispatch or HR system (not in the tech's medical file, because it holds no diagnosis):

• Tech name, date and time of report, symptom category from step 1
• Each call on the board that day, its disposition, covering tech, and customer contact time or attempts
• Any must-go call escalated to the owner, and what was decided
• Leave code and hours used
• Return date, the logged last-fever or last-episode time, the computed gap, and any first-day restriction

The owner reads it monthly, payroll reads the leave code, and if a customer complains that a sick tech came in or nobody showed, this record answers them.

Worked pass: a gastrointestinal illness in January

Step 1. Tech Luis vomits at 2:00 a.m. Monday. At 5:50 he answers yes to the second question. Stays home, does not drive. Pass.

Step 2. He texts the dispatch line at 5:55: "GI, vomiting overnight, probably two days. Water heater part for the 10:00 is on my van." Logged 5:55, inside the 6:15 deadline. Pass.

Step 3. Six calls on his board. The dispatcher marks two must-go (a no-heat at an 82-year-old customer's home, 18 F outside, and an active water heater leak) and four reschedule (two maintenance visits, an estimate, a thermostat swap). Both must-go calls get covering techs by 6:35, 40 minutes after the report, inside the 45. Pass.

Step 4. The 8:00 reschedule is reached at 6:40, 80 minutes ahead; the other three, with later windows, by 7:10. The 82-year-old's household turns out to include a daughter on chemotherapy, and the dispatcher confirms the covering tech is well. The water heater customer does not answer at 7:00 or 7:30: two attempts logged, voicemail and text left, covering tech arrives in the 10:00 window. Pass, by the stop rule.

Step 5. Keys left on the porch; cab wiped with gloves on and doors open; notes confirmed at 8:40. Pass.

Step 6. Coded as two sick days, no note requested. Pass.

Step 7, attempt one: fails. Luis feels fine Tuesday evening and reports Wednesday at 6:05 that he is ready. Last episode: diarrhea at 4:00 a.m. Tuesday. From 4:00 a.m. Tuesday to 6:00 a.m. Wednesday is 26 hours, under the 48-hour marker. Stop rule taken: Luis stays home, steps 3 and 4 are re-run for Wednesday's board, and step 6 codes a third sick day.

Step 7, attempt two. Thursday at 6:00 a.m., the gap is 26 plus 24, or 50 hours, at or above 48. Pass. Luis returns with no attic work on day one.

Step 8. In the February review, a second tech was out with GI symptoms the following week: two techs within nine days, below the three-in-seven cluster threshold, so no crew notice, though the owner has the shared van wiped down anyway.

References

• CDC, Respiratory Virus Guidance (updated March 2024), for respiratory return markers
• U.S. FDA Food Code, employee health exclusion provisions, for the 48-hour gastrointestinal marker
• Your state labor department's paid sick leave rules, and any city or county ordinance where your techs work
• See related: Working Sick and the Customer Home
• See related: Fatigue and the End-of-Day Mistake