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COVID-19 Updates

Temporary Paid Leave Programs

Posted on May 5, 2020

Colleagues,

Over the last few weeks, the CSU has announced several temporary leave programs available to employees whose work has been affected by COVID-19. If an employee is unable to work on campus or remotely on a full-time basis due to a COVID-19 related reason, they may be eligible for one or more of the temporary paid leave programs outlined below:

  1. SCPL: Special Consideration Paid Leave for those 65+ and chronic medical conditions
  2. CPAL: COVID-19 Temporary Paid Administrative Leave
  3. FFCRA: Families First Coronavirus Response Act
  4. NTWL: Non-Telecommuting Workers Leave

Initiating a Leave Request

To initiate a leave request, an employee, in consultation with their manager, should submit a leave request via email to the appropriate leave administrator (refer to contact information for each program). Once the employee submits their request, a leave administrator will contact the employee to discuss the employee’s qualifying COVID-19 reason(s) and their eligibility for one or more of these temporary paid leave programs. The appropriate leave program form(s) will then be provided to the employee and manager to complete via DocuSign. Human Resources or Faculty Affairs will issue final approval/certification. For staff and MPPs, Human Resources will enter absences into Absence Management with the applicable leave designation code. Faculty and Unit 11 employees will enter time as it is used.

1. Special Consideration Paid Leave (SCPL)

SCPL provides paid administrative leave to employees who are 65 or older and/or have a chronic medical condition if they are not able to work on campus or remotely based on the nature of the work.

Qualifying Reasons:

  • If the nature of the work is not conducive to remote work or telecommuting.

Eligibility: Full-time and part-time (exempt and non-exempt) staff, faculty, and managers who are 65 or older and/or have a chronic medical condition. Excludes: Hourly/intermittent, special consultants, retired annuitants, auxiliary/ foundation employees.

How to request participation: Email your Fresno State ID # and request to participate to:

2. COVID-19 Paid Administrative Leave (CPAL)

CPAL provides a one-time allotment of paid administrative leave up to 32 days (256 hours) for employees unable to work on campus or remotely any time from March 23, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Employees who regularly work less than full-time are eligible for a prorated number of hours based upon their percent of time regularly worked.

Qualifying Reasons:

  • When an employee is unable to work due to the employee’s own COVID-19-related illness;
  • When an employee is unable to work due to the COVID-19-related illness of a family member whom the employee would normally be allowed to use sick leave for;
  • When an employee is unable to work because the employee has been directed by their healthcare provider not to come to the worksite for COVID-19-related reasons;
  • When an employee is unable to work because the employee has been directed by their supervisor that it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely;
  • When an employee is unable to work due to a COVID-19-related school or daycare closure and the employee is required to be at home with a child(ren) or dependent(s), and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely or in conjunction with the childcare commitment.

Eligibility: All employees with a time base including full-time and part-time (exempt and non-exempt) staff, faculty and managers are eligible. Excludes: Hourly/intermittent (positive pay) employees, special consultants, retired annuitants, auxiliary/foundation employees. Time reported for exempt employees and faculty will be in full-day increments.

How to request participation: Email your Fresno State ID # and request to participate to:

3. Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

FFCRA provides two programs for employees who are unable to work on campus or remotely for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The FFCRA provisions apply from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Employees who regularly work less than full-time are eligible for a prorated number of hours based upon their percent of time regularly worked.

Qualifying Reasons:

  • Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA): Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick time if the employee is:
  1. subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
  1. has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19;
  1. is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
  1. is caring for an individual subject to an order described in (1) or self-quarantine as described in (2);
  1. is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed (or childcare provider is unavailable) for reasons related to COVID-19.
  • Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA): Provides up to 12 weeks of expanded family and medical leave by adding a new reason to qualify for Family And Medical Leave Act (FMLA), of which 10 weeks are paid, when an employee is unable to work due to an employee’s need to care for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.

Eligibility: All employees who have been employed for at least 30 calendar days are eligible. Excludes: Emergency responders and health care workers are excluded from qualifying reasons 4 and 5 listed above. Time reported for exempt employees and faculty can, upon approval, be reported as a reduced time base.

How to request participation: Email your Fresno State ID # and request to participate to:

4. Non-Telecommuting Workers Leave (NTWL) - NEW as of May 1

NTWL provides an additional paid leave allotment of up to 38 days (304 hours) for employees who have exhausted all leave available under CPAL. These hours can be used starting May 1, 2020 and expire on June 30, 2020, or when an employee is required to return to work, whichever occurs first. Employees who regularly work less than full-time are eligible for a prorated number of hours based upon their percent of time regularly worked.

Note: This leave is subject to management approval/discretion. Once the stay-at-home directives are lifted by the Governor and/or local government officials or if employees are scheduled to return to work on site, these hours expire and will no longer be available.

Qualifying Reasons:

  • The employee must be unable to work remotely (either full-time, part-time or intermittently) and on-site work is unavailable due to altered campus business operations.

Eligibility: All employees (non-exempt and exempt) with a time base that qualifies for standard benefits are eligible. Excludes: Non-benefits-eligible employees (including employees eligible for ACA health/FlexCash), hourly/intermittent (positive pay) employees, non-benefits eligible academic student employees (Unit 11), non-represented student assistants, special consultants, retired annuitants, auxiliary/foundation employees.

How to request participation: Human Resources or Faculty Affairs will contact employees participating in CPAL who are reaching their maximum CPAL hours and are eligible for NTWL.

QUESTIONS

If you have general questions regarding the temporary paid leave options above, please contact Benefits at benefits@mail.fresnostate.edu or Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairs@mail.fresnostate.edu for more information.

We know this has been a challenging time for our campus community. Please know that we appreciate the work you are doing whether it’s remote or on-campus. We will continue to provide more information as it becomes available.

Sincerely,

Human Resources and Faculty Affairs