Dear SHARE Region,
Over the last few weeks due to COVID-19 events, there have been numerous communications about new federal legislation, UC policies, and state and local orders that have been enacted which impacts how UC Berkeley employees are able to perform their job duties and receive pay. Until we learn more, I wanted to help offer some guidance around these recent communications:
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the March 16 Executive Order from Janet Napolitano creating a "COVID-19 Admin Leave" benefit of up to 128 hours of paid leave;
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The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) signed into law on March 18th by President Trump and;
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on April 9 UC’s obligations under FFCRA of up to 80 hours of Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (EFML).
Important guidance based on what we know today:
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While CV19 Admin Leave with Pay is active in CalTime for employees to record time, Rich Lau, UC Berkeley Director of Total Rewards, and Stacey Alvarez, UC Berkeley UCPath Operations Manager, have confirmed that the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) is still reviewing how to administer FFCRA (EPSL and EFML), and UCPath is not yet configured to support FFCRA leave types;
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Consequently, UC Berkeley is recommending that non-exempt employees who potentially qualify and wish to use FFCRA leave, use CalTime’s “Administrative Leave with Pay” code (not the “CV19-Admin Leave with Pay” code) for this current biweekly payroll cycle (4/5/20-4/18/20). Leave taken should berecorded by day for exempt employees and by the hour for nonexempt employees (in increments no smaller than ¼ hour)
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Leaves recorded in Caltime should not exceed the employees’ scheduled hours in the regular work day (generally 8 hours for full-time staff) or in the regular week (i.e. 40 hour work week);
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It is important that biweekly employees take action to enter leaves on their timesheets by this Saturday 4/18 (the biweekly CalTime deadline) and for supervisors to approve this by Monday 4/20 (the biweekly CalTime signoff) to ensure they receive on-time pay.
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Exempt employees who qualify for FFCRA should wait for further guidance before entering the leave into CalTime; we expect that additional guidance will be available before the deadline for monthly-paid employees.
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SHARE HR Business Partners are available as needed to assist in assessing employee qualification of FFCRA;
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To assist with reconciliation, it is recommended that Supervisors maintain their own records of FFCRA time usage for their employees, in addition to keeping record of the usage of UC Expanded Paid Administrative Leave (COVID-19 Paid Admin Leave).
UC Berkeley’s People & Culture have confirmed that their next steps, once we have further information are:
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Quickly develop a project and communication plan regarding the leave administration and absence management updates associated with FFCRA;
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Have the CalTime team to quickly update CalTime with the new earn codes and determine who should have access to update these codes (employees, supervisors, timekeepers);
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SHARE Region will then be informed and prepared for the incoming requests from their clients as well as the timekeeping updates needed.
An internal team has been convened with Employee & Labor Relations, Central Payroll, Benefits, and UCPath Operations to develop procedures for the Campus as we obtain further clarification from UCOP and the UCPath Center. We anticipate seeing this additional clarification shortly. Please be assured, we will make every effort to ensure the entries will be retroactively and correctly coded.
Thank you for your attention, and in the interim, please let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Ana Sanchez