TO: Campus Community
FR: Garry Mac Pherson, Vice Chancellor, Administrative Services
Cynthia Señeriz, Director, Human Resources
RE: Executive Order Concerning COVID-19 and the Usage of Paid Administrative Leave
Due to the most recent developments of the impacts of COVID-19 on the UC communities, Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California, has issued new guidance for UC employees impacted by COVID-19 in the form of an Executive Order. This guidance supersedes the March 9th letter concerning temporary emergency leave provisions issued by the Office of the President.
Effective immediately, UC employees will be eligible to receive up to 128 hours paid administrative leave in order to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, subject to the following conditions:
- All hours must be used by December 31, 2020, or the allotment shall expire;
- The hours may be used at any time during the period of this Executive Order, including intermittently, either before or after the use of any accrued leave or other paid leave, at the request of the employee, in consultation with the supervisor, provided that such use shall not adversely affect the delivery of essential university services, including in particular, the clinical services delivered by UC Health;
- The number of hours for employees who work less than full-time shall be prorated according to the percent of the appointment;
- Exempt employees who do not accrue sick or vacation leave are eligible for the one-time allotment of the paid administrative leave.
- The paid administrative leave hours may only be used for the following purposes:
- When an employee is unable to work due to the employee’s own COVID-19-related illness or that of a family member;
- When an employee is unable to work because the employee has been directed not to come to the worksite for COVID-19-related reasons and/or the work site has implemented a COVID-19-related remote-work program or is under a shelter in place order and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely;
- When an employee is unable to work because a COVID-19-related school or daycare closure requires the employee to be at home with a child or dependent, and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely or in conjunction with the childcare commitment.
- Employees who need to use this paid administrative leave shall request it from their immediate supervisor who shall be responsible for determining whether to grant the administrative leave.
- The Executive Order includes student employees. UCSB is committed to ensuring student employees who utilize the work study program are also covered under this revised guidance. Questions regarding the application of administrative paid leave for work study student employees should be addressed to the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships via email at wsp@sa.ucsb.edu.
- For academic personnel/academic employees, guidance will be issued separately.
- Instructions for Kronos Timekeepers will be issued separately.
The Executive Order is intended to address situations where employees need to take leave due to their own or family member’s COVID-19 related illness, stay home to care for children due to school closures related to COVID-19, or are directed not to report to work and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely. While we know that there may be many scenarios that do not precisely fit into one of the reasons described above, it is in the spirit of this Executive Order to reduce the hardship placed on employees directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In these cases, we urge managers at all levels to exercise maximum flexibility for employees who are experiencing hardships resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
QUESTIONS?
Employees are encouraged to communicate their questions directly to their supervisor.
Supervisor of staff employees should forward questions to Human Resources via ServiceNow using the following instructions:
Human Resources Services Login Employee & Labor Relations Department Advisory Services
Please see the UCnet website for more information concerning UC’s response to COVID-19 at https://ucnet.