REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
February 18, 2021
FROM: JEFF CARDELL, Director
Personnel Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
*** Approve a Resolution providing 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Leave time to City employees effective January 1, 2021. (Subject to Mayor's Veto)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
The Mayor and staff recommend approval of this Resolution providing 2021 Supplemental COVID-19 Leave (2021 COVID-19 Leave) because it will enable employees under mandatory quarantine, or who need leave for other COVID-19 related reasons, to take leave from work without having to expend other leave time, or else having to take leave without pay.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The proposed Resolution will allow City employees to use any remaining, unused Emergency Paid Sick Leave, previously provided by federal law, for 2021 COVID-19 Leave, for qualifying reasons from January 1, 2021, through March 31, 2021.
BACKGROUND
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) provided up to eighty (80) hours of paid, or partially paid, Emergency Paid Sick Leave time for employees needing to take leave from work for COVID-19 related reasons from April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. These provisions of the FFCRA sunset on December 31, 2020, and to date have not been extended.
FFCRA provided this leave could be used for the employee's own illness or quarantine, or the illness or quarantine of a family member. Employees could also use this leave if a dependent child's school or place of care was closed due to COVID-19. Under the FFCRA, Emergency Paid Sick Leave was paid by the employer, and the allotment of hours was above and beyond any normally accruing paid time off.
While some City employees exhausted the eighty (80) hour allotment, many City employees did not. The City continues to enforce all applicable State, County, and City orders, requiring employees to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms and exposure, and requires employees to quarantine at home for the length of time req...
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