# Employee illness reporting form and exclusion chart: the Food Code's five symptoms, six illnesses and when people come back

*Guides · Mays Team · September 24, 2026*

![Learning Settings in Mays for a test café, with the Certificate template that's issued when someone passes a compliance-critical training module, such as one on reporting illness, with the default Certificate of Completion header and the owner, Dana Reyes, as the signature](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__employee-illness-reporting-form-exclusion-chart__cover.414505721d.png)

A barista texts at 5:40 am: "threw up twice last night, feel ok now, should I come in?" The opener has to answer in a minute, and the answer is in the Food Code. This post turns it into two pages you can print: a chart of who stays home and when they come back, and a form to fill in each time someone reports.

*This is general information, not legal or medical advice. Your state or county adopts its own edition of the Food Code, and your health department has the final word.*

## What changed in the 2026 Food Code

Section numbers below are from the [2022 FDA Food Code](https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2022). We checked each one against the [2026 edition](https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2026), which keeps the reporting list and the waiting periods and changes three things:

- **A written illness policy for everyone.** New §2-501.11: the permit holder *"shall provide a written EMPLOYEE Illness Policy, available upon request"*, covering the symptoms, the diagnoses, and *"Illness EXCLUSION and/or RESTRICTION and reinstatement after illness symptom or disease resolution."* The 2026 guidance calls it *"a new requirement in the 2026 Food Code for all food establishments"*.
- **Lab tests instead of stool cultures.** For coming back after Shigella, STEC or Salmonella, the 2026 text asks for *"consecutive negative laboratory test results from a validated test"* where 2022 said stool specimen cultures.
- **Vomit clean-up moved.** The written clean-up procedure for vomiting and diarrheal events moves from §2-501.11 to §2-502.11. The requirement itself is the same.

## What employees must report

The Food Code makes the permit holder *"require FOOD EMPLOYEES and CONDITIONAL EMPLOYEES to report to the PERSON IN CHARGE information about their health and activities as they relate to diseases that are transmissible through FOOD"* (§2-201.11(A)). A conditional employee is someone you've offered a job to who hasn't started.

| Report this | Details |
| --- | --- |
| **Five symptoms** | Vomiting; diarrhea; jaundice; sore throat with fever; a boil or infected wound that's open or draining (on hands or wrists unless covered with a finger cot or similar and a glove; on arms unless covered; elsewhere unless covered with a dry, tight bandage) |
| **Six diagnoses (the "Big 6")** | Norovirus; hepatitis A virus; *Shigella* spp.; Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli* (STEC); typhoid fever (*Salmonella* Typhi); nontyphoidal *Salmonella* |
| **Past typhoid** | Typhoid fever in the past three months without antibiotic treatment |
| **Exposure** | Linked to a confirmed outbreak, or living with someone diagnosed with one of the illnesses, within: 48 hours (norovirus), 3 days (STEC, *Shigella*), 14 days (typhoid), 30 days (hepatitis A) |

**You call the health department** when a food employee is *"Jaundiced"* or *"Diagnosed with an illness due to a pathogen"* in the Big 6 list (§2-201.11(B)).

## The exclusion chart

Two words do the work. **Exclude** means *"to prevent a PERSON from working as an EMPLOYEE in a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT or entering a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT as an EMPLOYEE."* **Restrict** means the person *"does not work with exposed FOOD, clean EQUIPMENT, UTENSILS, LINENS, or unwrapped SINGLE-SERVICE or SINGLE-USE ARTICLES"* (§1-201.10). A restricted barista can run the register; they can't make drinks.

This chart is for a café or restaurant that doesn't serve a *highly susceptible population* (the Food Code means places like child or adult day care, hospitals, nursing homes and senior centers, whose rules are stricter). From §2-201.12 and §2-201.13:

| Situation | Action | Can come back when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vomiting or diarrhea, no diagnosis | Exclude | Symptom-free for at least 24 hours, or a health practitioner's note that it's not infectious |
| Jaundice that started in the last 7 days | Exclude, call the health department | With health department approval, and jaundiced more than 7 days, or a practitioner's note that it isn't hepatitis A |
| Diagnosed: hepatitis A | Exclude, call the health department | With health department approval, and one of the conditions in §2-201.13(B) |
| Diagnosed: typhoid fever | Exclude, call the health department | With health department approval and a practitioner's note |
| Diagnosed: norovirus | Exclude while sick, call the health department; restrict once symptom-free 24 hours | With health department approval, and more than 48 hours symptom-free, or a practitioner's note |
| Diagnosed: *Shigella* or STEC | Same as norovirus | With health department approval, and more than 7 days symptom-free, or a practitioner's note with negative tests |
| Diagnosed: nontyphoidal *Salmonella* | Same as norovirus | With health department approval, and more than 30 days symptom-free, or a practitioner's note with negative tests |
| Sore throat with fever | Restrict | A practitioner's note (for example, more than 24 hours on antibiotics for strep) |
| Infected cut or boil, not covered | Restrict | Once it's covered as the rule says |
| Exposure only (no symptoms, no diagnosis) | No exclusion or restriction here; record it and watch for symptoms | Not applicable (the exposure rules restrict staff where a highly susceptible population is served) |

Diagnosed without symptoms? Norovirus, *Shigella*, STEC and *Salmonella* without symptoms mean **restrict**, not exclude, in a café like this (§2-201.12(D) to (G)). When in doubt, exclude and call: an extra shift off costs less than an outbreak.

## The reporting form

Fill in one per report, whether it came by text, call or in person. Keep them where only managers can see them.

| Field | Fill in |
| --- | --- |
| Employee name, position, location |  |
| Reported to (person in charge), date and time |  |
| How it was reported | Text / call / in person |
| Symptoms (tick all) | ☐ Vomiting ☐ Diarrhea ☐ Jaundice ☐ Sore throat with fever ☐ Infected cut or boil (where?) |
| When symptoms started, and when they last had one |  |
| Diagnosed by a health practitioner? Which illness? | ☐ Norovirus ☐ Hepatitis A ☐ *Shigella* ☐ STEC ☐ Typhoid ☐ *Salmonella* ☐ None |
| Exposure (outbreak, household) and date |  |
| Action | ☐ Excluded ☐ Restricted (to which duties) ☐ No action needed, why |
| Health department called? Date, time, name |  |
| Shifts covered by |  |
| Return date and what allowed it | 24 hours symptom-free / practitioner's note / health department approval |
| Signatures | Person in charge, employee |

If someone vomits at work, the clean-up procedure applies too (§2-501.11 in 2022, §2-502.11 in 2026). Our [incident report form](https://www.mays.app/blog/restaurant-incident-report-form) covers that event, and the [manager shift log](https://www.mays.app/blog/manager-shift-log-template) is where the next manager reads that someone was sent home.

## Proving people know the rule

The person in charge must make sure employees *"are informed in a verifiable manner of their responsibility to report"* (§2-103.11(P)). The Food Code's Annex 3 lists ways to show it, including *"completion of Form 1-B, 'Conditional Employees or Food Employees Reporting Agreement' in Annex 7"*, and *"Presenting evidence such as curriculum and attendance rosters documenting that each employee has completed a training program which includes all the information required for reporting in Form 1-B"*.

So: a signed reporting agreement at hire (our [new employee orientation checklist](https://www.mays.app/blog/new-employee-orientation-checklist) has a line for it), a short training everyone passes, and the chart above posted where the schedule is.

## Where Mays fits

- **The training, with a certificate.** Build a short module on the reporting rule under **Learning → Modules** and tick **Compliance-critical (issues a PDF certificate on pass)** when you create it. The first time someone passes, Mays creates a PDF certificate with their name, score and date, designed under **Learning → Settings** (the image at the top of this post). **Who's taken it** on the module lists each person's attempts and best score. See [Training certificates](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/training-certificates) and [Assigning training](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/assign-training).
- **The written policy.** Put your illness policy and this chart in a Knowledge Base article shared with every location. See [Knowledge Base basics](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-base-basics).
- **The form.** Build the reporting form under **Tasks → Types** with **Yes / No** fields for each symptom, a **Text** field for the diagnosis, a **Date / time** for onset and a **Signature**, then send it as a one-off task with **Custom form** as the answer. Forms are filled in on the iPhone and Android apps, and each one lands in **Task Data**. See [Building custom forms](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types).
- **The time off.** Record the days out as **Sick** time off, so they show in the Attendance and Time Off reports. See [Time off requests](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests).
- **The cover.** In the Mays app, **Find cover** on the shift lists who's free, or puts the shift up for grabs. See [Finding cover for a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/find-cover).

What Mays doesn't do: it has no read-and-sign step on a Knowledge Base article, admins can't open someone's certificate on the web yet (the person shares it from their phone), and it doesn't call the health department for you.

## Print it, post it, train it

The 5:40 am text deserves a 30-second answer: "Vomiting last night means you're out until you've gone 24 hours without symptoms. I'll find cover." Print the chart and put it next to the schedule.

[**Start your free trial**](https://go.mays.app/register): 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or [book a walkthrough](https://www.mays.app/book?from=blog-employee-illness-reporting-form-exclusion-chart) and we'll build the illness training and form with you.

## Related help articles

- Knowledge & training: [Creating training modules](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/create-learning-modules) — Turn your knowledge base articles and documents into a short quiz. The AI drafts the questions from your own text, you review and edit them, then publish the module for your team.
- Knowledge & training: [Assigning training](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/assign-training) — Send a published training module to whole locations, roles, departments or single people, with an optional due date, then see who has taken it, their best score and every answer.
- Knowledge & training: [Training certificates](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/training-certificates) — When someone passes a compliance-critical module for the first time, Mays creates a PDF certificate with their name, score and date. Admins set the certificate's look under Learning → Settings.
- Tasks & checklists: [Building custom forms (Task Types)](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types) — Build your own task forms, like a cash count, a temperature log or a waste log, under Tasks → Types. Staff fill them in the app, and every answer lands in Task Data, ready to export.
- Knowledge & training: [Your knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-base-basics) — Keep your SOPs, recipes and policies in one place. Admins and managers build folders of articles and documents on the web; the whole team reads and searches them in the app.
- Scheduling: [Requesting and approving time off](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests) — Ask for days off in the app, pick a category like Vacation or Sick, and follow your request. Managers approve or decline on the web or in the app.

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/blog/employee-illness-reporting-form-exclusion-chart