COVID-19 Special Faculty and Staff Work and Leave Provisions

Published Feb 21, 2021 by

Benefits

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The UNC System Office has updated the COVID-19 Special Faculty and Staff Work and Leave Provisions, effective January 13, 2022 through the end of public health emergency or until revised or rescinded.

Please see a summary of the newly updated provisions below:

COVID-19 Paid Administrative Leave is available for employee absences due to a quarantine or isolation order, or if the employee has been advised to self-quarantine or self-isolate by a health care provider or public health official, and the institution determines that the employee cannot telework or an employee experiences a reaction to their COVID-19 vaccination or booster that prevents them from returning to work, either on the day of the vaccination or on the following day. To request COVID-19 Paid Administrative Leave, complete the attached COVID-19 Administrative Paid Leave request form and return it, along with confirmation of the date the vaccine was received or reason for self-quarantine or self-isolation, to adminleaverequests@ecu.edu.
- Under these conditions, COVID-19 Paid Administrative leave will be allocated as follows:
  - Employees may receive up to 80 hours of COVID-19 Paid Administrative leave for absences prior to using any accrued personal leave.
  - After these 80 hours have been exhausted, the employee must use their accrued personal leave for the absences.
  - Once the employee has exhausted their accrued personal leave, then the employee may receive an additional 80 hours of COVID-19 paid administrative leave for qualifying absences.
  - Please note: Employees who have taken COVID-19 Paid Administrative leave or Emergency Paid Sick leave under the FFCRA since March 16, 2020, will have those hours taken deducted from any remaining paid administrative leave that may be available to them.
- The interchangeability of accrued vacation and sick leave ended on December 31, 2021, and is no longer available.

The Literacy, Tutoring, and Mentoring Community Service Leave (CSL) Policy has been continued through the duration of the public health state of emergency and/or when a school mandates or offers virtual classes to support children in a virtual or partially in-person academic setting. Hours used during a work week may vary but cannot exceed the 36 hours allowed under policy. In addition, employees who are not using Literacy, Tutoring, and Mentoring CSL will have their traditional CSL hours reset at 24 hours (prorated by FTE), which can be used through the end of the calendar year. Please note that that the Literacy, Tutoring, and Mentoring CSL policy stipulates that employees must choose between using CSL for that purpose and using CSL traditionally (employees may not use both). CSL leave banks are reset at the beginning of the calendar year. If you have interest in using CSL under this policy, please contact your supervisor and/or Kronos SuperAdmin.
The additional 80 hours of special Community Service Leave allocated for volunteering with not-for-profit organizations on COVID-19 related service projects ends June 30, 2021. Any unused remainder of the 80 hours will be forfeited.
UNC System Office’s encouragement of the broad use of flexible work arrangements, including telework and alternate work schedules, in order to reduce the number of individuals on campus and the potential spread of COVID-19, ends June 30, 2021. Employees who are still currently teleworking should follow their departmental return to campus plans for the time period from July 12^th through August 20^th. Any on-going flexible work arrangements that may be implemented after August 20^th should follow the Interim Flexible Work Arrangements and Remote Work Regulation found here.

COVID-19 Vaccine Time Processing in Kronos   

Permanent and temporary employees may use paid work time to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during work hours, with supervisor approval, not to exceed eight hours in a single day. This paid work time is also provided for a second dose of the vaccine, if required, also not to exceed eight hours in a single day. Supervisors may request employees to provide proof the vaccine was received to have the use of work time approved. Supervisors should consult with Employee Relations on what would be appropriate to request from employees. To account for this time in Kronos, SuperAdmins or supervisors should add the pay code “Hours Worked” to the non-exempt or exempt employee’s timecard to account for the hours away from work due to receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine; including travel time. In addition, the comment “Covid Vaccine” should be used with this pay code. The Kronos job aid shows the use of the Hours Worked pay code and required comment. Please note this pay code is treated as normal hours work and can generate HOPS and overtime for the work week for non-exempt employees.

- Since this leave may be applied retroactively to January 1, 2021, any employee who used personal leave to receive their vaccine since January 1, 2021, will need to work with their supervisor and Kronos SuperAdmin to have a Team Dynamix ticket submitted to edit their leave record to reflect work time and credit their sick or vacation leave balance.
- Hours Worked pay code does not cover employees who experience a reaction to their COVID-19 vaccination that prevents them from returning to work, either on the day of the vaccination or on the following day. To request this leave, employees should complete the COVID-19 Administrative Paid Leave request form and return it, along with confirmation of the date the vaccine was received, to adminleaverequests@ecu.edu. The COVID-19 Administrative Paid Leave request form is available on the HR website. A combination of Hours Worked and COVID-19 Paid Administrative Leave may be used in these cases.

Where to Request Help 

Regarding the application of and use of pay codes in Kronos, please direct those questions to your supervisor or Kronos SuperAdmin. Supervisors or SuperAdmins may submit Kronos support tickets via Kronos Support Team Dynamix Ticket here.
Regarding the FFCRA and related processes, please direct those questions to HR_Benefits@ecu.edu.
Regarding general aspects of the changes to COVID-19 Paid Administrative Leave, please direct those to employeerelations@ecu.edu