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UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br />TO: FROM: <br />ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski General Manager <br />MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />January 12, 2021 5.2 <br />SUBJECT: <br />COVID-19 Emergency Leaves <br />ACTION REQUESTED: <br />Approve the extension of emergency leaves of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act <br />through March 31, 2021. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: <br />Federal legislation passed into law provides mandated sick and family leave options for <br />employees with COVID-19 related needs. This legislation is called the Families First Coronavirus <br />Response Act of 2020 (FFCRA) and was effective April 1, 2020 through December 31,2020. The <br />Department of Labor formally announced that the emergency paid sick leave and paid family <br />leave requirements of the FFCRA expired after December 31, 2020. The Consolidated <br />Appropriations Act, 2021, signed into law by President Trump on December 27, 2020, allows <br />businesses that offer such benefits to continue doing so through March 31, 2021. However, the <br />new law does not require these benefits to be offered. (Some businesses qualify for payroll tax <br />credits to offset these costs, which was also extended. There was a prohibition to governmental <br />entities claiming these payroll tax credits, and that prohibition still applies.) <br /> <br />DISCUSSION: <br />Elk River Municipal Utilities has been operating in safe mode for much of the pandemic, with <br />staff operating remotely where able as coordinated by their supervisors, and staggered starts <br />and lunches for those who are not able to work remotely. Our offices and facilities are still <br />closed to the public, except by appointment. This allows our employees to have meaningful <br />work, provide for their families, and still be safe. <br /> <br />We have had some staff who have needed to utilize the emergency sick leave when <br />quarantining, or the emergency family leave when needing to be with their children who are <br />remote learning at home. If we were to extend the emergency leaves through March 31, 2021, <br />we would not be adding available days for employees, only allowing them to utilize days not <br />already used. For example, if they have already used 10 days of the emergency sick leave in <br />2020, they would not have any days available in 2021. If they used 4 days of emergency sick <br />leave in 2020, they would have 6 days left to use in 2021. The same utilization applies for the <br />emergency family leave. <br /> <br />______________________________________________________________________________ <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />94 <br />