Requests due to pandemic scenarios

Memorial is providing guidance for two common scenarios that some employees and supervisors are encountering while maneuvering through the pandemic. While the university continues to assess the elements of remote work for broader, long term policy decisions, there is an opportunity to use experiences with remote work to address interim, temporary situations.

The first scenario concerns employees who have at least one symptom as outlined on the COVID-19 Self-Assessment form and are unable to report to work on campus, but feel they are well enough to work. The second scenario concerns employees who are parents or guardians of pre-school or school-aged children and what they should do if they themselves are healthy, but their child doesn’t meet school screening protocols and require supervision at home.

In the above examples, the university administration supports managers and employees working together to consider whether a temporary work from home arrangement would be feasible. In reviewing these situations, the following should be considered:

• whether the employee is required to be at home
• whether the employee feels physically able to work
• will the employee be able to work from home effectively and not be encumbered by other personal responsibilities during the agreed upon work hours
• is the home working environment appropriate and secure from a safety and confidentiality perspective

If these requirements are met, a temporary work from home arrangement should be considered. If they are not met, the situation should be addressed from a leave management perspective. This may involve using family responsibility leave, sick leave or annual leave.

Once the employee passes the COVID-19 Self-Assessment, they are expected to return to work on campus. Likewise, once the employee’s child is able to return to school, the employee is expected to return to work on campus. It is the university’s expectation that employees work on campus, with exceptions for formally approved work from home pilot projects or accommodations approved by Human Resources or Faculty Relations.