Paid Administrative Leave

UC Davis is committed to supporting employees and their families during the COVID-19 emergency.

Effective immediately, employees are eligible to receive up to 128 hours of paid administrative leave in order to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paid Administrative Leave is Available

Salaried, hourly, temporary and student employees may request paid administrative leave ONLY for reasons relating to COVID-19.

  • When the employee is unable to work because:
    • The employee or a family member has a COVID-19 related illness.
    • The employee has been directed not to come to work for COVID-19 related reasons and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely.
    • The employee is unable to work because of a COVID-19 related school or daycare closure that requires the employee to be at home with a child or dependent, and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely or in conjunction with the childcare commitment.
  • When an employee who has not been designated as performing essential functions has been ordered to “shelter in place” and is not able to work remotely.

FAQs and Scenarios

Top questions received during a Paid Administrative Leave presentation on Mar. 19. Review all the Q&A (.pdf)

  • What if an employee exhausts all paid administrative leave and accrued leave balances?
  • UC Davis’ catastrophic leave program is being revised to be able to provide limited support for employees who exhaust leave balances due to COVID-19.

    There will likely also be various forms of governmental intervention to try to limit the impacts to employees.

    However, if an employee exhausts all leave balances the employee would be placed on leave without pay status.
  • What about paid administrative leave use for a staff member (i.e., salaried) that can work remotely but only half time because of childcare, FML, or other issues?
  • Exempt staff member (i.e., salaried)
    Exempt staff code leave time in 8-hour increments and only if they are on leave for the full workday.

    An exempt staff member who is working remotely but only available 50% time (e.g., due to childcare issues) would be paid 100% and not use any accrued leave for any day they work.

    Exempt employees are expected to complete assigned work in a timely fashion, regardless of specific hours worked.

    In the above example, the exempt employee would be accountable to appropriately manage their time to complete all assigned work.
    Non-exempt staff member (i.e., eligible for overtime, hourly)
    Non-exempt employee would be on pay status for hours actually worked, and can use leave balances for remainder of hours, including paid administrative leave if need for leave is COVID-19 related.

    The paid administrative leave can be used intermittently, meaning the non-exempt employee can report both regular hours and paid administrative leave in the same day.
  • How do you calculate paid administrative leave for bi-weekly/monthly paid employees, per diems, variable appointments?

  • Bi-weekly Paid Employees
    1.  Calculate the number of hours the employee worked based on the table below.
    2.  Divide the number of hours worked by 304 - The result is the percentage of hours worked.
    3.  Multiply percentage of hours worked by 128 – The result is the number of EAL leave hours allotted to the employee.

    Pay Cycles

    Pay Period Covering

    Bi-Weekly

    January 12, 2020 through January 25, 2020

    January 26, 2020 through February 8, 2020

    February 9, 2020 through February 22, 2020

    February 23, 2020 through March 7, 2020
    Monthly Paid Employees
    1.  Calculate the number of hours the employee worked based on the table below.
    2.  Divide the number of hours worked by 328 - The result is the percentage of hours worked.
    3.  Multiply percentage of hours worked by 128 – The result is the number of EAL leave hours allotted to the employee.
     

    Pay Cycles

    Pay Period Covering

    Monthly

    January 1, 2020 through January 31, 2020

    February 1, 2020 through February 29, 2020
  • What about employees on a leave of absence that want to use paid administrative leave rather than leave accruals or leave without pay?
  • Paid administrative leave is available only for COVID-19 related matters.

    If the employee is already on a leave of absence unrelated to COVID-19, the employee is not eligible to use paid administrative leave. 

Guidance Documents from UCOP

Requesting Paid Administrative Leave

  • UC Davis Health - the timekeeping system is sufficient for tracking purposes. 
  • Davis Campus - the employee should complete the Emergency Administrative Leave form (.pdf), and submit it to their immediate supervisor. The request will be reviewed by the employee’s immediate supervisor who shall be responsible for determining whether to grant the administrative leave.

Determining Whether to Grant Administrative Leave

In making the determination as to whether to grant the leave, supervisors must take into account the operational needs of the University with special consideration given to the critical importance of maintaining the continuity of medical center operations. Supervisors are responsible for determining whether their staff are performing essential functions such as require staff to be at work on campus.

Essential functions include, but are not limited to:

  • Clinical services delivered by UC Davis Health
  • Patient and animal care
  • Critical campus infrastructure
  • Diagnostic laboratories
  • Critical ongoing research

When a supervisor denies a request to use this emergency leave, the supervisor should inform the employee the basis for the denial and inform Employee & Labor Relations of the employee’s name, job title, and reason for denial.

Reporting Paid Leave

  • UC Davis Health (Medical Center, Schools of Health) - employees on approved COVID-19 Emergency Administrative Leave (EAL) should record their time and attendance in Ecotime. View Ecotime Guide (.pdf)
     
  • Davis Campus - the Time Reporting System (TRS) is updated for reporting approved COVID-19 related Emergency Administrative Leave (EAL). Visit the Time Reporting System (TRS) webpage for information.

Additional Details

  • Employees may still use accrued sick, vacation or paid time off in order to address their own illness or the serious medical condition of a family member.
  • The 128-hour allotment may be used consecutively in one block or incrementally.
  • The paid administrative leave may be used prior to usage of accrued leave.
  • The allocation for employees with less than full time appointments (e.g., student employees) shall be prorated based on appointment percentage.
  • Subject to the University’s ongoing operational needs, the paid administrative leave provided pursuant to the Executive Order must be used during the period from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 for the reasons stated in the covered categories only. All hours must be used by December 31, 2020, or any remaining hours in the allotment expire.


Questions

If supervisors have questions regarding the application of this emergency leave provision, they should contact their assigned Employee Relations Consultant.