University of Georgia
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response

UGA Faculty and Staff Non-Closure Emergency Leave Procedures

Date:
Posted on
To:
  • UGA Faculty and Staff
From:
  • Ryan Nesbit, Vice President for Finance and Administration
  • Juan Jarrett, Associate Vice President for Human Resources

We are pleased to announce that the University System of Georgia (USG) has issued Non-Closure Emergency Leave Procedures that give USG presidents the authority to allow Leave with Pay for emergency leave where the institution remains open but with reduced operations. While UGA and all USG campuses remain open, many campus operations have seen a significant reduction in response to COVID-19.

In an effort to benefit as many eligible employees as possible during this emergency while also enabling the University to sustain essential services and maintain continuity of instruction, President Morehead has chosen to exercise his authority to compensate employees for hours not worked up to the equivalent of their regularly scheduled hours per week when there is not work for those employees.

Employees eligible for Non-Closure Emergency Leave include regular full-time and regular part-time employees who:

  1. are not able to perform their regular duties through telework or other remote and flexible work arrangements, and
  2. are not working as essential employees in enabling the University to sustain essential on-campus services and operations.

(Please note that while temporary student workers, rehired retirees, and other temporary employees are not eligible for Non-Closure Emergency Leave under the USG policy, they are still permitted and encouraged to perform their regular duties through telework or other remote and flexible work arrangements.)

Supervisors and managers have been directed to continue teleworking, remote work assignments, and flexible working arrangements in order for employees to perform their regular duties to the fullest extent possible. They also have been encouraged to be as flexible as possible with these arrangements for ALL employees, including assignments to employees outside of their regular duties, to ensure employees are continuing to work their regularly scheduled hours per week. When these options are not feasible for their employees, supervisors and managers can now use the Non-Closure Emergency Leave with Pay. In addition to utilizing rotational scheduling for employees who are required to work on campus to sustain essential services and operations, supervisors and managers can now use the Non-Closure Emergency Leave with Pay—in combination with or in lieu of remote work assignments—to ensure employees are compensated for hours they do not work on campus.

The USG emergency leave procedures are based on guidance issued by the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) to assist state agencies in managing operational challenges in response to COVID-19. USG leadership has worked closely with other state agencies to implement these additional procedures that support this guidance.

More information regarding Non-Closure Emergency Leave can be found at https://hr.uga.edu/faqs/.  Additional questions may be directed to University Human Resources at 542-2222 or hrweb@uga.edu.