"Families First COVID Act" Expiration Leaves Some ASD Staff "SOL"
The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) required certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19. The Act gave employees up to 10 days of paid leave — but now, employees must use their own personal time off (PTO).
The FFCRA’s paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave requirements expired on December 31, 2020. The guidance, which has been compiled into a Frequently Asked Questions page on the Wage and Hour Division website, answers questions about the use of leave entitlement after the expiration date.
"The Wage and Hour Division is attuned to the critical need for American workers and employers to understand this relief program as they deal with the effects of this crisis on the workplace," said Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Administrator Cheryl Stanton in a statement released Dec. 31.
One school district, Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas — unanimously approved two resolutions extending the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on Jan. 11, but in Anchorage, no such extension of the FFCRA exists because the ability to extend the Act is at least partly contingent on the employer having less than 500 employees.
In the case of one Anchorage school district employee who returned to school last month and who contracted the virus somewhere along the way, the school district's position is that there's no administrative leave available to them unless the exposure that resulted in the illness "occurred at school."
How school district staff are supposed to "prove" to the school district that their COVID-19 exposure occured on school grounds is unknown.
I reached out to the ASD employee this evening to follow up on their particular situation after they had made me aware of it last month — they told me, "I ended up having to file unemployment this whole time," and that because they're still showing symptoms they no longer have a return date for work.
The district employee who is deeply worried about their financial situation and who doesn't have much PTO accumulated told me:
"Write whatever you need to. They need to implement some kind of help for their employees, especially the ones affected by COVID-19. There's no way to prove that I contracted COVID-19 at the workplace so nobody is willing to take any responsibility."
Another Anchorage school district employee told me:
"As an ASD teacher with students returning on the 8th I am very nervous about having to use my leave. I don’t have much sick leave in the bank; two little kids have helped me use most of what I earn each year.
Yet another school employee wrote: "If the entire class has to quarantine due to close contact they will move to online learning and staff can work from home. But otherwise you have to use your leave...IF you have it. If you don't you're screwed."
According to one school district Special Education Teachers Assistant, who claims to be knowledgeable about one particular individual's situation, the school administration doesn't want people talking about COVID-19 exposure either saying:
"When a teacher in my building got COVID-19 right after that first week when staff went back in the buildings she posted about it on her private FB page and was scolded for doing so. They say only people who "need to know" should. Otherwise it's like it's supposed to be this big secret. I get that they have to follow regulations about releasing personal/medical info and privacy laws. But if a person is releasing their own status it's none of their (the school district's) damn business."
For now, a school district employee with little or no personal time off available will need to file for unemployment benefits — their only source of income in an already stressed economic climate.
