Town of Longmeadow’s 

Implementation of the Coronavirus Response Act

Emergency Paid Sick Leave & Emergency FMLA
The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Coronavirus Response Act”) was recently passed by Congress and is effective April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

In order to comply with the Coronavirus Response Act, The Town of Longmedow has established the following leave procedures. These procedures are temporary, and will expire on December 31, 2020, or as otherwise dictated by law.

 
Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL)

The Coronavirus Response Act created a new form of paid sick leave called Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) for certain leave events related to COVID-19.

Eligible Employees:
Full-time (defined as 40 hours per- week) and part-time employees are immediately eligible to use EPSL.

Reasons for Using Leave:
EPSL may be used if the employee is unable to work (including remote work) for the following reasons:

1. To comply with a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
2. The employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19;
3. The employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis;
4. To care for an individual who is subject to an order as described in (1) above or has been advised as described in (2) above;
5. To care for the employee’s son or daughter if a school or place of care is closed, or the childcare provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions; or
6. The employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition as specified by the designated Federal agencies.

(NOTE: WE EXPECT GUIDANCE TO BE ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES REGARDING WHAT MAY QUALIFY AS A “SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR CONDITION.” SO FAR, NO SUCH GUIDANCE HAS BEEN ISSUED.)

FAQ's for Reasons to use EPSL Leave:

• FMLA, ADA and EPSL may be available for the purpose of leave from work due to employees own underlying health condition (high risk for COVID19); employees should follow the FMLA ADA and EPSL (FFCRA) procedures.  

• If an employee cannot work due to their own serious health condition (unable to work due to illness, injury, incapacity) that is non-COVID19 related, employees should follow the traditional FMLA and ADA procedures for leaves that may be available for the purpose of leave from work.  EPSL is not available for this purpose

• When an employees has a family member who has underlying health conditions (high risk for COVID19) FMLA, ADA and Emergency FMLA leaves are not available.  However, a request for an unpaid personal leave of absence may be submitted for consideration under the terms of the employee's collective bargaining agreements, personnel manual and/or individual contract.  

• When an  employee cannot work to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition (unable to work  due to illness, injury, incapacity) that is non-COVID19 related, employees should follow the traditional FMLA procedure or leaves that may be available for the purpose of leave from work.  ADA and EPSL is not available for this purpose.

• Request for leave because an employee is uncomfortable reporting to work (to avoid contracting COVID19) and does not have an underlying health condition/comorbidity, FMLA, ADA and EPSL and Emergency FMLA leaves are not available.  However, a request for an unpaid personal leave of absence may be submitted for consideration under the terms of the employee's collective bargaining agreements, personnel manual and/or individual contract. 

Amount of Leave
Full-time employees are eligible for eighty (80) hours of EPSL. Part-time employees are eligible for EPSL based on the average number of hours they work (recorded Standard Hours). If you are a part-time employee and have a question about your average hours, please contact the HR Department.

Pay Rate
EPSL will be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay, as determined under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) at 100% up to $511.00 per day ($5,110.00 total) for reasons 1,2 and 3; and at 2/3 the employee's regular rate of pay (0.666%) up to $200.00 per day ($2,000.00 total) for reasons 4 and 6 above.  

EPSL can voluntary be used for reason 5 above for the first 2 weeks of unpaid Emergency FMLA leave (described below) in lieu of the employees traditional accrued leave even if neither the employee or the child(ren) are sick related to COVID-19. If elected; employees will be entitled to pay at two-thirds (2/3) of their regular rate of pay, as determined under the FLSA, for the number of hours that the employee would normally be scheduled to work, capped at $200/day and $2,000 in the aggregate for the entire EPSL leave period.

Supplementing Pay Rate FAQ's
Currently the supplementing of pay (adding 1/3 accruals with the 2/3 EPSL pay to total 100%) with available accrued time (vacation, personal or sick) for reasons 4, 5 and 6 above has not been approved by either the Town Manager or the Superintendent of Schools.

Notice
Employees who need to request EPSL should provide reasonable notice of the need for leave (including the reason for the leave) to the Human Resources Department.  After the day EPSL leave is first taken, employees should complete, sign and submit the FFCRA Request Form to the HR Department.  Questions should be addressed to hrdept@longmeadow.org. 


Employee Benefits FAQ's
Employees are entitled to maintain their benefits (health, life, dental, vision etc.) while they are on paid leave at the same employee % that they were paying while working.  If an employee moves into an unpaid status, then they would be responsible for 100% of the cost of these benefits.  Employees whose experience a separation of employment (resign, lay-off, termination etc.) will be offered COBRA coverage as available under the federal COBRA laws.  In some cases employees will be invoiced by the Human Resources Department and in other cases they will be invoiced directly from the insurance providers.  All invoices must be paid within 30-days of the due date to be eligible to maintain coverage.

HEALTH INSURANCE

• HNE HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $683.58
• HNE HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,702.46
• Tufts HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $743.28
• Tufts HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,853.70
• BCBS HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $784.06
• BCBS HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,946.22

DENTAL INSURANCE

• Low Individual Plan at 100% - $45.14
• Low Employee/Spouse Plan at 100% - $90.29
• Low Employee/ Child(ren) Plan at 100% - $86.43
• Low Family Plan at 100% - $137.04

• High Individual Plan at 100% - $50.56
• High Employee/Spouse Plan at 100% - $101.10
• High Employee/ Child(ren) Plan at 100% - $103.48
• High Family Plan at 100% - $160.20

VISION INSURANCE

• Individual Plan at 100% - $5.55
• Employee/Spouse Plan at 100% - $11.09
• Employee/ Child(ren) Plan at 100% - $11.65
• Family Plan at 100% - $16.22

Termination of Leave

EPSL shall cease beginning with the employee’s next scheduled work shift immediately following the termination of the need for EPSL as described above. EPSL will not carry over from one year to the next or be paid out upon separation for any reason.

 Emergency FMLA

The Coronavirus Response Act also added a new reason for employees to take FMLA leave in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic. FMLA remains subject to the same twelve (12) workweek limit, counting any amounts of FMLA leave already used in the current leave year.  The Town measures it leave year using a "rolling" twelve (12) month period measured backward from the most recent date an employee uses any FMLA leave.

Eligible Employees
Employees (with the exception of any exempted first responders and certain health care providers) who have been employed for at least thirty (30) calendar days may qualify for emergency FMLA leave.

*Contact the HR Department for eligibility information: hrdept@longmeadow.org

.

Reasons for Using Leave
Emergency FMLA leave can be used when an employee is unable to work (or work remotely) due to caring for the employee’s son or daughter, under age 18, if the son or daughter’s school or place of child care has been closed, or the child care provider is unavailable and no other suitable person is available to care for the child; reason 5 above. This must be the result of a COVID-19 related emergency declared by Federal, State, or local authority.  School that have designed as remote or hybrid are considered closed for Emergency FMLA purposes.

FAQ's for Reasons to use Emergency FMLA Leave:

• When an employee chooses to care for a child at home (home school) vs. sending a child to an open school or daycare, even if the child has an underlying health condition(high risk for COVID19), FMLA, ADA and Emergency FMLA leaves are not available.  However, a request for an unpaid personal leave of absence may be submitted for consideration under the terms of the employee's collective bargaining agreements, personnel manual and/or individual contract.
• If an employee has previously exhausted their 12 weeks of traditional FMLA during the Towns/Schools  12 month “rolling period” they would not be eligible to use Emergency FMLA child care leave.  However, a request for an unpaid personal leave of absence may be submitted for consideration under the terms of the employee's collective bargaining agreements, personnel manual and/or individual contract.  They may still be eligible to use EPSL for reasons 1-3.
  

• This new emergency FMLA leave is an expansion of the traditional FMLA laws, and the Town's FMLA Policy Revised 2016 does not allow for the intermittent use of FMLA for child rearing purposes.  

• The Longmeadow Public Schools- will not be accepting requests for the intermittent use of Emergency FMLA leave for childcare purposes.

• The Town of Longmeadow-Town Manager has agreed to consider intermittent use of emergency FMLA leave on a case by case basis subject to prior approval.    Request for intermittent emergency FMLA leave should be submitted in advance to the HR Department for consideration using the FFCRA leave request form.

  

Other Paid Leave Policies
The first ten (10) days of emergency FMLA leave will be unpaid unless the employee has another form of paid leave *available and elects to use that paid leave.   The employee may use EPSL for the first 10 days as itemized in the Emergency Paid Sick Leave section above.

  *Availability of other forms of paid leave is subject to the terms of the employee's general leave policies which include  collective
    bargaining agreements, personnel manuals and/or individual contracts.  Sick leave may not be used for Emergency FMLA
    leave if no one is sick.


Supplementing Pay Rate FAQ's
Currently the supplementing of pay (adding 1/3 accruals with the 2/3 EPSL or Emergency FMLA pay to total 100%) with available accrued time (vacation, personal or sick) for reasons 4, 5 and 6 above has not been approved by either the Town Manager or the Superintendent of Schools.

Pay Rate
After the first ten (10) days, eligible employees taking emergency FMLA leave will be entitled to pay at two-thirds (2/3) of their regular rate of pay, as determined under the FLSA, for the number of hours that the employee would normally be scheduled to work, capped at $200/day and $10,000 in the aggregate for the entire emergency FMLA leave period.

Notice

Employees who need to request emergency FMLA leave should provide reasonable notice of the need for leave to the HR Department by completing the FFCRA Request Form, please be sure to print and sign your completed form.  Questions should be addressed to hrdept@longmeadow.org

Termination of Leave
Paid emergency FMLA leave will continue until the employee has exhausted their twelve (12) workweek entitlement or the reason for using leave ends.  

Employee Benefits FAQ's
Employees are entitled to maintain their benefits (health, life, dental, vision etc.) while they are on paid leave at the same employee % that they were paying while working.  If an employee moves into an unpaid status, then they would be responsible for 100% of the cost of these benefits.  Employees whose experience a separation of employment (resign, lay-off, termination etc.) will be offered COBRA coverage as available under the federal COBRA laws.  In some cases employees will be invoiced by the Human Resources Department and in other cases they will be invoiced directly from the insurance providers.  All invoices must be paid within 30-days of the due date to be eligible to maintain coverage.

    HEALTH INSURANCE

• HNE HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $683.58
• HNE HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,702.46
• Tufts HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $743.28
• Tufts HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,853.70
• BCBS HMO Individual Plan at 100% - $784.06
• BCBS HMO Family Plan at 100% - $1,946.22

All administrative provisions of the Town of Longmeadow's FMLA processes relating to such issues as notice, certification, and reinstatement continue to apply to Emergency FMLA leave.