Chattooga County Schools to Extend “FFCRA” Emergency Paid Sick Leave

At the January Chattooga County Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Hosmer made the  recommendation to approve the extension of the “FFCRA” Emergency Paid Sick Leave. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) which required certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 expired on December 31, 2020.

“Given the scenario that we are in with the Pandemic, the School System felt it was necessary to continue the “FFCRA” locally for our faculty and staff. It is our hope that we will soon be out of this situation and can return to some since of normalcy,” Superintendent Hosmer told AllOnGeorgia.

Effective immediately and retroactive to January 4, 2021 the Chattooga County School system will be voluntarily extending paid sick leave benefits to employees who are required to be absent from work for qualifying Covid-19 related reasons and who did not use or exhaust their paid sick leave entitlements under the FFCRA by December 31, 2020. If an employee has already exhausted all 10 days of paid sick leave under the FFCRA prior to December 31, 2020, then that employee will be required to use normal personal sick leave days. If an employee has used only a portion of the available 10 days, that employee will be permitted to use the remaining FFCRA leave days through May 31, 2021.

Chattooga County Board of Education Chairman Eddie Elsberry said, ‘The board is thankful that we are able to extend the FFCRA with local funding. This is a commitment to our employees that will allow them some sense of security should they be affected by Covid and be one less worry in their day.”

Qualifying reasons for using Chattooga County Schools voluntary extension of these Covid-19 related paid sick days:
1. Employee is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19; 2. Employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19; 3. Employee is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis; 4. Employee is caring for an individual subject to an order described in (1) or self-quarantine as described in (2);
This paid sick leave is based on the regular daily rate of pay at:
• 100% for qualifying reasons #1 #3, up to $511 daily and $5,110 total;
• 2/3 for qualifying reasons #4, up to $200 daily and $2,000 total

The Motion to approve the extension was made by Mr. Hayes with a second by Dr. Houston and the vote was unanimous.