The Eugene 4J school district unanimously approved a COVID-19 temporary leave program during their Wednesday school board meeting. This comes after the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act expired on Dec. 31.
The former program allowed employees affected by the pandemic to maintain pay and benefits if they couldn’t telework.
4J Director of Human Resources Karen Hardin said the program will also create a leave bank of up to 10,000 hours that could support employees who may have come in contact with COVID-19.
This includes staff or a member of their household who has been directed to quarantine by Lane County Public Health or a district contact tracer. It would also help staff who have exhausted their sick leave and have symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19.
“The plan will provide up to ten days of leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay, and it would authorize the HR director [to] provide an allocation of up to ten days [of] additional in extenuating circumstances," said Hardin. “It would require employees, as a condition of eligibility to cooperate with HR and the directions of the contact tracer.”
It would also create up to five days of death-related bereavement leave. The plan expires on June 30 unless terminated or modified beforehand.
