ELBERTA - During the August meeting, the Elberta council approved up to 80 hours of COVID sick leave for town employees. To qualify, employees will be required to show a doctor’s note. Employees will also need to show a doctor’s note with a negative COVID test in order to return to work.

“We’ve got a situation now where we’re got employees who are out with COVID and they don’t have any sick leave,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Kirkpatrick. He said some employees were newer and didn’t yet qualify for regular sick leave or vacation days. “The personnel committee recommended that we put 80 hours of COVID sick leave that would be available, so with a valid doctor’s excuse we would pay a maximum of 80 hours that wouldn’t affect sick leave or regular leave.”

During the COVID pandemic last year, employees who tested positive for COVID received up to two weeks sick leave separate from their regular paid leave. At the time, the council believed the town could be reimbursed through the first funds of the CARES Act. However, they later learned COVID sick leave for employees would not be covered through the funds.

“For the first CARES Act, we were reimbursed for everything but that payroll, so we did get a lot of money back,” said Town Clerk Caryn Woerner. “I’ve asked bookkeeping to see if they can create a second line item that says ‘COVID Sick’ and where it does not affect employees’ sick leave. If they do go over the 80 hours then it would have to dig into their other sick leave.”

The approval for 80 hours of COVID sick leave for employees will remain in affect throughout 2021. It will be brought back to council during the December meeting to determine whether or not it will continue during 2022.