NC school employees who can’t work during pandemic can get paid emergency sick leave
The Wake County school system is encouraging employees to take advantage of the state’s new emergency leave option if they can’t work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, the State Board of Education approved a policy allowing North Carolina public school employees to get up to 168 hours of paid sick leave in April and 96 hours of retroactive paid leave for March 16-31. The leave is expected to help many school employees statewide who are worried about being paid while schools remain closed through at least May 15.
“At a time when millions of workers nationwide have found themselves unemployed, this important decision will literally keep some of our WCPSS families solvent,” Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton said at a news conference Friday. “It is greatly appreciated.”
Those who are eligible among Wake’s 19,000 school employee include:
▪ Employees who can’t work or telework because of childcare needs due to a COVID-19 facility closure.
▪ Employees who can’t work or telework because of eldercare needs due to a COVID-19 facility closure.
▪ Employees who have not been assigned on-site duties and the supervisor has determined they don’t have duties that can be performed remotely.
▪ Employees who have been assigned a reduced remote schedule and the supervisor has determined they don’t have duties that can be performed remotely during balance of daily hours.
▪ Employees who are sick with COVID-19 symptoms or have been directed to self-quarantine by a healthcare provider.
▪ Employees who are caring for someone who is sick with COVID-19 symptoms.
Some employees are also eligible if they’re at “high risk” from COVID-19 and can’t work remotely. This group includes people such as school bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers.
School districts using state leave policy
Hourly school employees have been particularly worried about getting paid. They’ll be able to use the state leave if districts can’t find enough hours of work for them.
Durham Public Schools cited the state leave policy on Thursday when it announced it was discontinuing its school feeding program after an employee who helped pass out food tested positive for COVID-19, the News & Observer previously reported.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted Tuesday to give hourly employees an additional 80 hours of paid emergency leave to go alongside the state leave, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 10:32 AM.
