Leave - Public Health Emergency Leave

Emergency Paid Sick Leave available under Federal law.

Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) and the corresponding personnel rules (5.39.(A-C)) remain in effect for now and at least four weeks after the federal Public Health Emergency ends. Under the current declared federal emergency, employees can use PHEL through February 8, 2023, unless the federal Public Health Emergency is extended at the Federal level.

During a public health emergency, the university will supplement leave amounts to ensure that all employees have the necessary accrued leave to have up to two weeks of sick leave. Leave supplement amounts are calculated based on leave accrued as of January 1, 2021. For full-time employees, this is a maximum of 80-hours, prorated for part-time status based on hours scheduled to work. The university will not provide sick leave for those employees who have the necessary amount of sick leave through their regular sick leave accrual. Supplemental leave will be provided to those employees who do not have the necessary amount of sick leave to meet the requirements under the state law. 

An employee may use the public health emergency sick leave for four weeks after the official termination or suspension of the public health emergency.

Employees are only eligible for supplemental paid sick leave once during the entirety of a public health emergency. If a sick employee does not qualify for or exceeds the supplemental sick leave allowance they should record their time in My Leave as sick leave and should consider filing a Family Medical Leave (FML) request to ensure job protection.

If supplemental leave is required due to exhaustion of accrued leave, the employee should notify Human Resources via a Public Health Emergency Leave Request form. If supplemental leave is provided, the employee should use this leave before using accrued leave balances.

Sick employees who have been on campus and in contact with others should contact their supervisor and HR immediately.

Nothing in this guidance is intended to alter the at-will nature of employment or create a contract for a specific duration of employment.

Supplemental Paid Sick Leave
Public Health Emergency Leave Criteria and Instructions

The university will supplement an employee’s sick leave as necessary to ensure that an employee may take the following amount of sick leave:

  • 80 hours of paid sick leave for employees full-time employees; or
  • This is a maximum of 80-hours, prorated for part-time status based on hours scheduled to work.

An employee may take paid sick leave during a public health emergency for the following reasons.

The employee:

  1. is self-isolating due to a positive diagnosis, of the illness that is the cause of the public health emergency; 
  2. is experiencing symptoms, seeking a medical diagnosis, medical treatment, or seeking preventive care with respect to the illness causing the public health emergency; 
  3. public health officials or the employer determines it is unsafe for the employee to come to work due to the public health emergency; 
  4. is caring for a family member in the above circumstances; 
  5. needs to care for a child or other family member whose childcare facility is unavailable, or the child’s childcare facility or school is closed due to the public health emergency; 
  6. is unable to work because the employee has a health condition that may increase susceptibility to or risk of a communicable illness that is the cause of the public health emergency.

If supplemental leave is required due to exhaustion of accrued leave, the employee should notify Human Resources via a Public Health Emergency Leave Request form. If supplemental leave is provided, the employee should use this leave before using accrued leave balances.

Other Leave Options

For information about leave unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the Leave page. Sick leave is available to all UCCS employees at designated accrual rates. Information about sick leave for all employees is available here.

The privacy of sick or high-risk employees continues to be important.  Do not communicate an employee’s health status to individuals who do not have a legitimate need to know. 

 

Submit a Leave Request