When Food Workers Should Stay Home: Food Safety Rules

Updated July 30, 2026

Food workers do not need to diagnose themselves. They do need to speak up early. Vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, a sore throat with fever, and an infected hand wound are not “wait and see” issues in a food establishment—report them to the person in charge before handling food.

This guide summarizes the FDA Food Code’s employee-health provisions and FDA’s Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook. The Food Code is a model, not federal law for every restaurant. Your local health code and your establishment’s policy control; they may be stricter.

The symptoms to report

Under Food Code §2-201.11, food employees must report these symptoms to the person in charge:

• vomiting;
• diarrhea;
• jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);
• sore throat with fever; and
• a lesion containing pus, such as a boil or infected wound, when it is on the hands or wrists or on an exposed body part.

That reporting duty matters even when you think the cause is unrelated to food. The person in charge—not a coworker or a shift group chat—needs the information to decide what work is safe and whether the health department must be involved.

“Exclude” and “restrict” are different

Food-safety rules use two terms that sound similar but lead to different actions:

• Exclude means do not work in the food establishment.
• Restrict means do not work with exposed food, clean equipment/utensils/linens, or unwrapped single-service or single-use articles; other work may be possible.

The Food Code calls for exclusion for vomiting or diarrhea unless the symptom is from a noninfectious condition. It also has specific provisions for jaundice, certain diagnosed infections, and highly susceptible populations. A sore throat with fever and an infected wound may result in restriction or exclusion depending on the situation. Do not try to apply a one-size-fits-all answer yourself: report it, then let the person in charge follow the applicable code.

The diagnoses and exposures that must be reported

The Code also requires reporting of diagnoses of the six foodborne pathogens often called the “Big Six”:

1. Norovirus
2. Hepatitis A virus
3. Shigella species
4. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)
5. Salmonella Typhi (typhoid fever)
6. Nontyphoidal Salmonella

Employees must also report certain exposures, including being exposed to or suspected as a source in a confirmed outbreak, or specified household/outbreak-setting exposures. These details are why a manager may need to ask follow-up questions and contact the regulatory authority. It is a safety process, not a judgment about the worker.

Returning after vomiting or diarrhea

FDA’s employee-health handbook gives the familiar general rule: a worker with vomiting or diarrhea should stop work, report to management, go home, and return only after at least 24 hours have passed since the symptoms ended.

That is not the whole story. A diagnosis, jaundice, a highly susceptible population such as a nursing home, or a local health-department decision can change the exclusion and clearance requirements. If a clinician tells you that you have one of the reportable infections, tell the person in charge; do not use a generic 24-hour rule as a substitute for the required clearance process.

Hand wounds: cover is not the same as ignore

Tell the person in charge about a lesion containing pus. FDA guidance explains that an infected wound can sometimes be protected with a double waterproof barrier—such as a finger cot or waterproof bandage plus a single-use glove—so the worker can continue with food work when appropriate. The location of the wound, whether it drains, and the local code all matter.

For ordinary cuts that are not infected, follow your workplace policy: clean and cover them before work, and replace a damaged covering. Gloves do not make a contaminated or uncovered wound safe.

What to do, in order

1. Report the symptom, diagnosis, wound, or relevant exposure before food work.
2. Follow the person in charge’s work assignment or exclusion instruction. Do not decide on your own that gloves solve the problem.
3. Wash hands with soap and water. Hand sanitizer is not a substitute for proper handwashing on soiled hands.
4. Return only when the applicable criteria are met. Ask if local health-department clearance or medical documentation is required.

The goal is simple: keep one employee’s illness from becoming a customer outbreak. Reporting promptly protects coworkers, guests, and the employee who needs time to recover.

Sources and further reading

• FDA Food Code 2022, Part 2-201 — employee reporting, exclusion, restriction, and reinstatement criteria.
• FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook — employee-facing explanations and return-to-work guidance.
• FDA Employee Health Policy Tool — interactive tool that directs users to their state/local/tribal/territorial code for applicable policy.

Common questions