What If COVID Sick Leave Goes Away?
Editor’s Note: OHSU’s Feb. 17 COVID update noted that “In the past week, some of you have reached out with questions around the long-term plan for the extra COVID paid sick leave banks. While conversations are underway about the future of the COVID banks, OHSU has not made a decision yet. Like all decisions related to its COVID-19 response, OHSU will need to consider the evolving state of the pandemic in determining next steps. We will share more in the coming weeks…”
I recently met with OHSU president Danny Jacobs to discuss our union’s concerns regarding COVID-related hazards I’ve seen around campus. Today I received a troubling response from a member of OHSU’s health-care leadership that I want to make our represented employees aware of. The response addressed our concerns re: N95 access, dining spaces, tram safety, checkpoints and the COVID sick-leave bank. Our specific request related to COVID sick leave was for OHSU to add hours to the banks for employees who’ve exhausted their 80 COV1 hours, so that they can avoid having to use sick or vacation time if they become reinfected.
OHSU’s response mentioned that COV1 hours were replenished in March 2021 and that the employer doesn’t expect to consider doing so again any sooner than March of this year. This doesn’t acknowledge the reality that workers are dealing with. The pandemic is ongoing — we’re only now starting to come out of the omicron surge, and we don’t know what the future holds. Almost all of us know of at least one coworker who’s been sick with COVID. Reinfection isn’t unheard of. Many of us have cared for family members with COVID and many of us still scramble to deal with COVID-related school closures.
If you find this troubling, it gets worse. What would you do if COVID sick leave went away entirely? Incredibly, it appears that OHSU is planning on discontinuing our COV1 banks at the end of March:
“HR has discussed this topic with the Healthcare leadership (as HC is where we see the majority of utilization) and they are not supportive of refreshing the banks. In fact, HC Leadership reports that all other health systems in the area have discontinued their extra COVID sick leave banks already. Unless directed otherwise, I think we were moving towards discontinuing the COVID SL bank at the end of March.”
If this decision makes you feel worried, angry or unappreciated, email AskOHSU@ohsu.edu and (professionally and respectfully) let OHSU’s leadership know your thoughts.
Regardless of what the other health systems in the area are doing, this is not the action one would expect from a world-renowned health-care institution. This is not the action of an employer who just two days ago reminded OHSU’s health-care workers that “the best way to care for patients is to care for yourself.” This is not the action of an employer that respects its workers who are at high-risk of developing COVID-19 or who have high-risk family members — it seems ableist, frankly. I had hoped that OHSU would lead the way in public health and employee safety, but it appears I was mistaken.
What will happen if COVID sick leave goes away and you or a family member get COVID-19? It will depend on the status of your sick and vacation banks.
Is your sick-leave balance low? You’ll be at risk of not having enough SIK accruals to cover your time — and will be at risk of receiving attendance-related disciplinary occurrences.
Want to use vacation time to cover a future COVID-related absence? Setting aside the fact that you’re probably in dire need of a vacation after the last two years, the temporary exception allowing us to use VAC hours for COVID absences is also going away at the end of March.
Feel like you’ll have no choice but to come to work sick or risk losing your job? OHSU’s health-care leadership doesn’t seem to realize that OHSU’s attendance policies makes this a very real possibility for many members of our bargaining unit. Do any of the people making this decision have to worry about such a thing? Are our families and coworkers acceptable collateral damage to OHSU?
Eliminating COVID sick leave at the end of March — or at any time while the pandemic is still so active — is a short-sighted decision. It could worsen OHSU’s staffing crisis and it feels like a slap in the face to workers who’ve given so much for the employer during this unprecedented time. If the pandemic slows and we no longer have to worry about whether we have COV1 hours, great! If it doesn’t, though, why would OHSU take away this safety net?
Again, if this decision makes you feel worried, angry or unappreciated, email AskOHSU@ohsu.edu and (professionally and respectfully) let OHSU’s leadership know your thoughts. Let your non-AFSCME coworkers know about this too. Finally, remember that it’s now bargaining season — our union is negotiating our next contract. We deserve better than this, and making our voices heard loud and clear over the coming months is the only way to make OHSU see that.
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