U.S. Chamber of Commerce on swine flu absenteeism

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U.S. business group warns of swine flu absenteeism

Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:59am EDT By

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday offered companies

new guidelines for coping with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, warning that

employers could face crippling absenteeism as the U.S. flu season takes hold.

In the 16-page volume titled, " It's Not Flu as Usual: An H1N1 Business

Preparedness Guide, " the largest American business federation presented

scenarios in which more than 10 percent of staff are too sick to come to work on

any given day over the course of several months to a year.

" Absenteeism will be the central issue that businesses wrestle with during this

pandemic, " said Ann Beauchesne, who leads the chamber's national security and

emergency preparedness program...

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE58H2WN20090921