This communication is to inform you of recent guidance on University of California’s (UC) COVID-19 Related Leaves for policy-covered and represented staff employees.
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) into law, which give employers the option to offer their employees Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) in 2021. On March 19, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom approved Senate Bill 95 (“SB 95”) which entitled most California employees to a new bank of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave, but did not go into effect until March 29, 2021.
Effective March 29, 2021, UC is providing up to 80 hours of EPSL for full-time employees and the two-week equivalent for part-time employees. The EPSL that UC is offering in 2021 is more generous than federal law would require and more generous than California’s COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave.
COVID-19 Related Leaves:
- UC Expanded Paid Administrative Leave (PAL) - Effective March 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021
- May use up to 128 hours
- Part-time Employee: prorated by appointment percentage
- One-time allotment
- Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) - Effective March 29, 2021 – September 30, 2021
- May use up to 80 hours
- Part-time Employee: two-week equivalent
- Employees are able to take EPSL between March 29, 2021 and September 30, 2021. If an employee took any leave between January 1, 2021 and March 28, 2021 for one or more of the EPSL qualifying reasons but was not paid their regular rate of pay during EPSL, the employee may request that the university allow them to retroactively us EPSL to January 1, 2021.
- COVID-19 Vaccine
- Employees who have PAL available, gets the COVID-19 vaccine, and then gets sick from side effects of the vaccine and is unable to work for that reason, the employee would be able to use PAL for that time. Alternatively, employees may request EPSL if the employee is recovering from injury, disability, illness, or condition related to obtaining COVID-19 immunization.
- If an employee has exhausted PAL and/or EPSL or opts not to use them, the employee would be able to use accrued sick leave, vacation leave, and/or paid time off (PTO).
For a comprehensive review of the COVID-19 Related Leaves for Policy-Covered and Represented Staff Employees document visit: https://www.ucop.edu/human-resources/_files/covid-19_related_leaves_guidance_for_chros.pdf. If you are an eligible employee and you have questions on COVID-19 related leave, contact your department Human Resources representative.