Federal employees and FFCRA

[campermom]

Any HR or OPM people around?

FFCRA gives you 2/3 salary up to $200 a day for certain periods of time if you Child’s school/childcare is unavailable. My employer is allowing staff to supplement that 2/3, with their accrued leave. The problem is I don’t have a lot of accrued leave and then I wouldn’t have any left for the future until this time next year. I’m waiting to hear back if they are allowing sick leave or just personal/annual. Most of their employees don’t get any annual leave, and get only 3 personal days a year. Update: mine would use 1/3 of a day sick leave.

I’m asking my husband (federal employee) to look into it for himself since he has an enormous amount of sick time. He would have more than half leftover even if he were to supplement through that 12 week period.

Do you know if feds are able to use SICK leave for that purpose to supplement (after the initial 2/3 FFCRA) OR if they can only use personal/annual?

I’m sure this is very situation specific but the details are so overwhelming, I don’t want to invest time into researching it if it just can’t happen.

[wildrice]

Maybe not helpful, but I work for the state (Maryland) and we allow sick leave to be used for that.

We also allow people to borrow from future leave if they don't have any accrued leave. Does your employer allow that? What happens if you exhaust your sick leave and then get sick - you take days unpaid? I might just gamble on that as long as you wouldn't get fired or something for taking additional sick days later if you need them.

[ssmjlm]

Each agency should have their paperwork for the request. I have a packet, but it's specific to my command.

From what our information says, you can only take paid sick leave because school is closed, not because it's virtual.

Your husband needs to contact his agency's HR to get more information.

[tommygirl03]

Aug 20, 2020 7:59:22 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Each agency should have their paperwork for the request. I have a packet, but it's specific to my command.

From what our information says, you can only take paid sick leave because school is closed, not because it's virtual.

Your husband needs to contact his agency's HR to get more information.

Pretty much this. However, our agency provided guidance in the last week or so that sick leave is only if the employee is sick, not for childcare issues.

[flex]

There is "sick leave" available under FFRCA if you contract the virus while at work--10 working days for quarantining, but that's the only way to utilize it. Utilizing your personal sick leave in conjunction with personal leave depends on the Employer or if there's a labor contract that allows for using it. But it's very rare.

[winemaker06]

I thought some feds are only being allowed to take the first 2 weeks of FFCRA (paid sick leave provision), not the full 12 weeks (expanded FMLA). So you'll want to look into that part as well. But yea, every company and organization is handling it differently.

[campermom]

Aug 20, 2020 7:59:22 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Each agency should have their paperwork for the request. I have a packet, but it's specific to my command.

From what our information says, you can only take paid sick leave because school is closed, not because it's virtual.

Your husband needs to contact his agency's HR to get more information.

It’s our daycare that has no spots left.

[wildrice]

Aug 20, 2020 9:47:50 GMT -5 flex said:

There is "sick leave" available under FFRCA if you contract the virus while at work--10 working days for quarantining, but that's the only way to utilize it. Utilizing your personal sick leave in conjunction with personal leave depends on the Employer or if there's a labor contract that allows for using it. But it's very rare.

This is actually not correct, assuming your employer qualifies for the FFCRA. It has nothing to do with where you contracted the virus - it can be totally unrelated to work. It also should cover being off work for the following reasons:

1. You've been told to quarantine by federal, state, or local guidelines, or your healthcare provider has told you to.
2. You are caring for someone who has been told to quarantine by the above (i.e. your child).
3. You have symptoms or are awaiting test results, or you have a positive test result
4. You are caring for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed

I don't know about the rarity of using personal leave to cover the rest, but I would expect that many employers would allow flexibility in using accrued leave right now. My employer allows you to use your accrued sick leave if you are unable to come back to work right now due to anything related to COVID-19, including childcare. We have a limit of using 160 hours, unless you are using FMLA which then would allow you to use as much accrued leave as you have available up to that 12 weeks.

Standard answer for all of this is contact HR. They are probably getting a lot of questions likes these right now and should be able to provide you any employer specific information. But the basics of FFCRA are federal and as long as your employer is covered by the federal guidelines, the specifics of how and when you can use the leave should not vary. 

[m15]

My H is allowed to use sick leave if he chooses. I believe it would qualify under his family friendly leave. However, he is choosing to do one day a week at the 2/3 pay. One of my kids only has school in person twice a week while I teach and take my other child five days, so we've had to do some switching of days off for him and use the covid leave.

[flex]

Thank you wildrice, I stand corrected. I know school workers who work under a collective bargaining agreement are asking the same questions about combining personal leave with FFRCA. Some districts are willing to negotiate language to combine the two leaves during the COVID pandemic; other districts are not.

[campermom]

Update: My school system responded and said I could use sick time for this purpose and they would give the 2/3 day and I could use 1/3 of my sick day, per day. That isn’t going to last long though bc I have so few sick days. I pray his does the same thing.

[Wines Not Whines]

I’m a federal employee and I can’t use sick leave for child care unless my child is actually sick.

[waverly]

It’s a shame that the feds aren’t considered an FFCRA employer. Other public entities are.

[ssmjlm]

Aug 20, 2020 19:29:11 GMT -5 waverly said:

It’s a shame that the feds aren’t considered an FFCRA employer. Other public entities are.

They are, but it still has certain parameters for use. And not every fed has a ton of leave on the books.

As I said above, each agency has to put out info and OP’s spouse needs to check with HR.

Sick leave traditionally can’t be used for child care, only if the child is sick. So no childcare or virtual learning would not be an allowable use of sick leave. He could use annual leave.

[starryfish]

Aug 20, 2020 19:23:19 GMT -5 Wines Not Whines said:

I’m a federal employee and I can’t use sick leave for child care unless my child is actually sick.

Same here.

We have a charge code that expires soon for childcare issues, but only allows 10 hours a week for it.