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09 - Extend the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act Sick Leave Program to 6-30-2022Item No. 9 TO: Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem & City Council FROM: Grayson Path, City Manager SUBJECT: Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) Granting of Extension DATE: January 10, 2022 BACKGROUND: The Federal Government approved the FFCRA in response to the CoVid-19 Pandemic which required certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to CoVid-19. These provisions were in place from April 1, 2020 — December 31, 2020. While the federal requirements for this leave ended on 12/31/20, they recommended that employers voluntarily continue this leave for their employees given CoVid-19 was still a rampant issue in the country. The City Council agreed to extend the FFCRA Program 4 consecutive quarters, thus from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. STATUS OF ISSUE: Despite the low CoVid-19 numbers we experienced through the fall, with the addition of the new Omicron CoVid-19 variant, CoVid-19 cases in the City and County have once again dramatically increased. The City is likewise seeing high numbers of employees getting sick and needing to quarantine away from work. While it was slow in the start of the fourth quarter, it has drastically picked up lately. In addition, the Governor's Mandate GA -38 disallows the City Manager to require facial coverings of his employees and GA -39 disallows requiring vaccinations. Because of this, it is requested that the City Council consider re -instating the CoVid-19 leave under the same terms and conditions as before. Between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021, 81 employees utilized the FFCRA. Since the program ended on December 31 ", we know of about ten employees who have been out with CoVid-19. This number has been increasing as of late and we expect it to continue to rise in the upcoming weeks. While vaccinations — those who have taken it — have helped keep these cases mild, they do not prevent employees from catching CoVid-19 and spreading it. 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.