09 - Extend the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act Sick Leave Program to 6-30-2022

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We would propose a continuation of the program — for those employees who still have a balance of CoVid-19 leave in their 80 hour bank, if they get sick they be allowed to access this bank of hours before having to use their other accrued leave. Many employees have used their 80 hour bank from the FFCRA, but others have not. We would also request that this be made retroactive to January 1, 2022, the conclusion of the last extension. Any employee who was out with CoVid- 19 during that period and would have had hours in the bank can have their leave reimbursed with FFCRA leave. We further recommend that this be extended through the end June 2022. With this, we continue to strongly encourage all employees to take personal responsibility and accountability to keep themselves and their fellow employees healthy and safe. BUDGET: The City has been tracking the number of hours used under the FFCRA so that we could know when the 80 hour cap was reached and sick leave would need to be applied. As of December 24, 2021 the last pay period ending date, the City had seen 78 employees utilize 4,046.50 hours of FFCRA leave for a total of $59,718.45 in 2021. Our current leave ended on December 31st, and since that time over the last week, CoVid-19 has surged and we have had approximately ten employees out of work due to quarantine or illness. Keeping sick employees home helps prevent further cost with other employees getting sick, therefore we believe the extension of the FFCRA to be a worthwhile expense to encourage employees to stay home. OPTIONS: 1. Extend the FFCRA Program to June 30, 2022, retroactive start to January 1, 2022, and make it available to any City employee who has a remaining unused hour bank of FFCRA leave. This is strictly an extension of the previous program and not a new bank of hours. 2. Do not extend, make changes, and/or request additional information. RECOMMENDATION: 1. Extend the FFCRA Program to June 30, 2022, retroactive start to January 1, 2022, and make it available to any City employee who has a remaining unused hour bank of FFCRA leave. This is strictly an extension of the previous program and not a new bank of hours.