The Draper City Temporary COVID-19 Pandemic Policy needs to be updated. This policy was created at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic to allow telecommuting where necessary and appropriate, and to comply with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) that became effective April 1, 2020. This law mandated employers to provide additional paid leave benefits. The FFCRA paid leave provisions expired on December 31, 2020.

The recent Federal Relief bill extends the emergency paid leave benefit into 2021, but made it optional for employers. Draper City would like to continue providing the two weeks of emergency paid sick leave (EPSLA) for employees who meet the eligibility requirements and have not already used the two week maximum amount the legislation provides. The legislation does not create additional paid leave if an employee already received emergency paid leave in 2020. The maximum benefit is still two weeks of paid leave.

The City is not opting to continue the FFRCA expanded FMLA leave which added the ability for an employee to apply for FMLA for childcare related to schools being closed. No City employees applied for this expanded FMLA in the eight months it was in place in 2020.

The proposed changes to the Temporary Pandemic Policy have been reviewed by the City Attorney and the City Manager.