HALIFAX -- The spread of the coronavirus raises many questions for people who have been travelling.

If you come down with a fever or cough when you get home, should you go to work?

Can you be forced to stay at home?  What about people who work in health care?

Offices are ready for flu season, with workers out for a day or two, but with a potential 14-day quarantine for COVID-19 symptoms, can your boss make you stay home?

In short, probably, says Rick Dunlop, a labour and employment lawyer at Stewart McKelvey.

"It's reasonable for that employer to take measures to ensure that employee doesn't attend the workplace and put others in jeopardy," Dunlop said.

But there are many different types of jobs and job contracts, and it's important to check yours.

Dunlop says some workers could be able to work from home, but if not, they should talk to their bosses about how they'll get paid when they're off.

"That employer may find it difficult to justify not paying the employees, or at least not providing a reasonable, or maybe a more liberal than usual, sick-leave policies or vacation," Dunlop said.

For some workers, it's even more important to check in after travel.

At Northwood Long Term Care, visitors are prohibited from coming into the building if they have travelled outside of the country in the last two weeks.

Workers have to call and go over a checklist before they can come back to work, said Josie Ryan, the director of long-term care at Northwood

"We asked them where they've been, when they returned, so they have any symptoms now, and then educate them on the precautions to take there," Ryan said.

At Shannex complexes, employees are currently retraining with their pandemic plan and how to deal with respiratory illnesses, says Lisa Snodgrass, an infection control specialist at Shannex.

"We have infection prevention and control procedures in place that all of our staff are educated on a regular basis, and they're repeating some of that education at this point in time as well," said Snodgrass.

If employees want to self-quarantine after a trip, Dunlop suggests talking to your employer and searching for a compromise.

That would likely use some or all of the employee's yearly sick leave, especially if the trip was not for work.