College of Medicine faculty, staff may be eligible for FFCRA benefits

Dr. Kevin Black, College of Medicine interim dean, sent faculty and staff the following email on Oct. 28:

Dear College of Medicine faculty and staff,

I am writing to you today to announce College of Medicine employees are now eligible under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Due to recent U.S. Department of Labor revisions to the FFCRA, the College of Medicine is no longer considered exempt from its paid sick leave and paid leave provisions. Please review the FFCRA notice, which outlines provisions under this regulation. These provisions will apply from Wednesday, Sept.16, through Thursday, Dec. 31.

What does this mean for you? If you are a College of Medicine faculty or staff member, you may be eligible for the benefits under the FFCRA, including paid sick leave and expanded family medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. These provisions apply through Dec. 31, 2020. This includes:

• Up to two weeks (80 hours, or a part-time employee’s two-week equivalent) of paid sick leave based on the higher of their regular rate of pay, or the applicable state or federal minimum wage, paid at:
  • 100% for qualifying COVID-19 self-care reasons, up to $511 daily and $5,110 total
  • 2/3 for qualifying COVID-19 care for others or other reasons specified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, up to $200 daily and $2,000 total
  • Up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave paid at 2/3 for the qualifying child care reason due to COVID-19 for up to $200 daily and $12,000 total
• A part-time employee is eligible for leave for the number of hours that the employee is normally scheduled to work over that period.
• Please direct any questions regarding your leave eligibility under the FFCRA to Penn State Absence Management: absence@psu.edu.

How do I ensure I am covered by FFCRA?

Starting immediately, all College of Medicine employees should report any COVID-related absence through Penn State Occupational Medicine at 814-863-8492 instead of Employee Health. The protocol can be found here, but the steps to take are as follows:

If you have COVID-related symptoms:

1. Stay home.
2. Call your primary care physician.
3. Contact Penn State Occupational Medicine at University Park at psuoccmed@psu.edu or call 814-863-8492.
4. Penn State Occupational Medicine will determine if you have had close contact with other employees and will refer you for contact tracing.

Who is not eligible?

FFCRA applies only to Penn State University employees at the College of Medicine. Penn State Health employees should continue calling Employee Health, and students should call Student Health.

Please refer to the following website for additional information or answers to frequently asked questions. If you have questions regarding coverage for COVID-19 tests under the Penn State University health care plans, please call Aetna at 855-878-4197.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility as new information related to COVID-19 becomes available. While this pandemic has caused us to the fluid and flexible at times, we will continue to communicate new updates with you as they become available.

If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email the Penn State College of Medicine web department.