The American Rescue Plan Act
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), passed in late December 2020, permitted employers to voluntarily extend paid leave benefits previously mandated by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), originally effective April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. FFCRA required certain employers including Texas A&M University System members to provide two forms of paid leave to assist employees impacted by COVID-19: Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFMLA). In accordance with the CAA, Texas A&M voluntarily continued providing FFCRA leave benefits through March 31, 2021.
NOTICE: The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 once again permitted employers to voluntarily provide employees impacted by COVID-19 with paid leave benefits. In accordance with the ARPA, Texas A&M employees need to be aware that:- Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) is extended through September 30, 2021
- Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFMLA) benefits expired March 31, 2021; however, leave afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) remains available for eligible employees.
Emergency Paid Sick Leave under the ARPA
EPSL under the ARPA provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave beginning April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021 to employees who are unable to perform their assigned duties due to one of nine qualifying reasons related to COVID-19. Employees are now entitled to a new bank of EPSL hours beginning April 1, 2021.
At Texas A&M University, employees will first submit their request for EPSL using the EPSL Request Form. This form will be used to document all necessary information. Once the EPSL is approved, an EPSL entry will need to be submitted in Workday. Note that EPSL will route to both the manager and Absence Partner for review and approval in Workday.
- Emergency Paid Sick Leave Request Form
- Paid Leave Requirement Summary Chart
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Questions not addressed in the FAQs may be emailed:
- Texas A&M employees: benefits@tamu.edu
- Texas A&M Health employees: hschr@tamu.edu
Frequently Asked Questions
EPSL is provided if an employee is unable to work onsite or remotely for one or more the following reasons:
- The employee is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.
- The employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19. A self-imposed quarantine without medical advice does not qualify.
- The employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking a medical diagnosis.
- The employee is caring for an individual (not specifically limited to family members) subject to or advised to quarantine or self-isolate.
- The employee is caring for the employee's child whose school or place of care is closed, or whose child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions
- The employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the State.
- The employee is getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
- The employee is recovering from adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine
- The employee is awaiting the results of a COVID diagnosis or test after having close contact with a person with COVID-19 or at the employer’s request
The ARPA restarted the bank of hours available for EPSL. This means employees who exhausted EPSL during the previous eligibility year (4/1/2020 to 3/31/2021) are now entitled to an additional 80 hours of paid time off beginning April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.
A part-time employee is entitled to leave for his or her average number of work hours in a two-week period. Therefore, you calculate hours of leave based on the number of hours the employee is normally scheduled to work. If the normal hours scheduled are unknown, or if the part-time employee's schedule varies, you may use a six-month average to calculate the average daily hours. Such a part-time employee may take emergency paid sick leave for this number of hours per day for up to a two-week period.
If this calculation cannot be made because the employee has not been employed for at least six months, use the number of hours that you and your employee agreed that the employee would work upon hiring. And if there is no such agreement, you may calculate the appropriate number of hours of leave based on the average hours per day the employee was scheduled to work over the entire term of his or her employment.
Texas A&M will pay employees at their regular rate of pay based on the number of hours the employee would otherwise be normally scheduled to work.
Yes, lEmergency Paid Sick Leave can be taken on an intermittent basis. If an employee is unable to work their normal schedule of hours due to one of the nine qualifying reasons, they may take emergency sick leave in less than full-day increments.
Example: John Doe regularly works 8 hours per day, but he is only be able to telework for 5 hours per day due to one of the qualifying reasons. John would then be paid his regular salary for the 5 hours he teleworked and paid 3 hours of emergency paid sick leave.
No. Employees do not have to use other paid leaves before they use emergency paid sick leave. The employee may, however, choose to use other paid leave available prior to or instead of the EPSL.
In addition to the signed Employee Statement Supporting EPSL, the employee is required to provide one of the following forms of written documentation to accompany your request:
- Note/letter from medical provider
- Email from entity requiring quarantine or isolation
- Notification of close contact or test result