Message to Faculty and Staff from President Davenport, April 1, 2020
Dear Minnesota State University, Mankato Employee,
As our state responds to COVID-19, Governor Walz signed Executive Order 20-07 on March 17 to support state agency employees during this unprecedented time. This order provides one of the best paid leaves in the country for employees who cannot work due to certain COVID-19-related circumstances.
Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) rolled out the paid COVID-19 leave policy and request form on March 18 to state agency employees. Generally, all employees who can telework should. Employees who cannot telework may be reassigned or redeployed. For employees who can’t telework or be reassigned or redeployed, Paid COVID-19 Leave is available.
Last week President Trump signed into law a federal government emergency coronavirus relief package. It includes paid sick leave benefits for employees who must take time off because of the spreading virus, as well as expanded Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits for leave for school and childcare closures due to COVID-19. MMB has updated our state policy to comply with the federal law. The revised policy is posted on MMB’s website and is effective April 1.
The April 1, 2020 revised Paid COVID-19 Leave policy includes addition of:
- Paid school care leave for kids under 18, rather than only 12 and under
- For kids older than 12, this is another use of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, is limited to a total of up to 12 weeks of FMLA at 2/3 pay, and runs concurrently with employees’ existing FMLA leave balance. The remaining 1/3 can be supplemented with accrued vacation or comp time. The total amount of FMLA leave available to any employee eligible for both FMLA and this leave will not exceed 12 workweeks in the fiscal year. Employees who have already exhausted their FMLA balance for the fiscal year are limited to up to 80 hours of this leave (pro-rated for part-time employees) at 2/3 pay. The remaining 1/3 can be supplemented with accrued vacation or comp time.
- At this time, we will not impose these caps and limitations on school leave for younger kids or children with disabilities who need care.
- Care leave for individuals other than family members
- This is limited to 80 hours (pro-rated for part-time employees) at 2/3 pay. The remaining 1/3 can be supplemented with accrued vacation or comp time.
- At this time, we will not impose these caps and limitations on care for family members.
- We expanded some uses for the employee’s health and caring for others, but generally our prior policy already provided the benefits required by federal law, and more.
Contact your supervisor to discuss your use of Paid COVID-19 Leave. To request Paid COVID-19 Leave, you must submit a Paid COVID-19 Leave Request Form to the Office of Human Resources for approval. You may contact Steve Barrett, Director of Human Resources at 507-389-2015 or hr@mnsu.edu with any questions.
Sincerely,
Richard Davenport
President
Steve Barrett
Director, Human Resources
