University of Idaho President C. Scott Green put in place an emergency action allowing employees who are unable to work remotely to apply for emergency paid sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).
The FFCRA is designed so American employees aren’t forced to choose between receiving their wages and complying with public health guidelines in response to COVID-19.
Human Resources is looking into how the CARES Act, which supplies funds to state, local and tribal governments as they react to COVID-19, would impact a decision to possibly terminate employees so that they are able to file for unemployment. The act might be able to spare the university of needing to do that.
The university does not have any plans to fire any employees in reaction to COVID-19 at this time, Wes Matthews, executive director of Human Resouces said.
Matthews said all UI employees are eligible to apply for 10 days of emergency paid sick leave under FFCRA.
It is effective beginning last Wednesday and extends to April 14. This was originally the last day before the stay-at-home order ended. Idaho Gov. Brad Little extended the order to April 30.
The amount of money a person can earn from using the FFCRA is based on what an employee would normally make on the days they worked.
Under the FFCRA there are several ways to be eligible for emergency paid sick leave. The first is if an employee is subject to a government ordered quarantine, they are eligible.
Matthews made sure to point out that this applies to everyone in Idaho because the state is currently under a mandatory stay-at-home order.
Other ways to be eligible include being advised by a health care practitioner to self-quarantine, experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and caring for an individual or children that are quarantined.
The last form of eligibility requires an employee to be experiencing comparable symptoms as specified by the Department of Health and Human Services. This is meant to be relatively vague because it intends to include future or unexpected situations that may become a problem.
There are limits to how much money a person can earn in one day using the FFCRA that are determined by why they are taking sick leave.
“Part-time employees are entitled to such paid sick time for the average number of hours the part-time employee works during an average two-week period,” according to the congress website.
If an employee is under government mandated quarantine, has been advised by a doctor to self-quarantine or is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 they are limited to earning $511 a day.
For any of the other qualifications for FFCRA, such as an employee taking care of their dependents due to schools and child care facilities being closed, an employee is limited to earning $200 a day.
“I feel like an army storming the beach,” Matthews said. “We are moving forward as fast as we can.”
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected]