When the question first arises, do you have to pay your employees for the time it takes to take their temperature, my HR brain kicks in and screams, “you can’t take their temperature at all! It’s an illegal medical exam!”
This would normally be the answer, but these times are not normal. Generally speaking, an employer cannot perform a medical exam on an employee under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But, the pandemic status of Covid-19 means that the rules have changed. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) waived those rules for the pandemic and you can take an employee’s temperature and ask your employees about their health status.