Brace for workers’ absences, don’t ask employees’ for doctors notes, tell workers to telecommute, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke tells employers. Send people home at the first sign of illness, the LA Times reports. That Puritan work ethic? That vision of the boss working through her cold to ‘set an example’ for the rest of the office wimps? fuhgeddaboudit. You workers: Wash your hands a lot. Expect to get up to three flu shots to get adequate protection. Ouch.