As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue, employees may have questions on how to address potential concerns for health, safety, and overall well-being while continuing to work in accordance with Flexible Work Agreements. UC ANR continues to support best practices for workplace safety, accommodations, and reporting by focusing on:
Safety in the workplace:
- Employees should continue screening themselves for COVID-19 symptoms before coming to work and stay home when they are sick or have symptoms that are not from a known condition;
- Employees should report COVID-19 symptoms, close exposures, and positive tests (using the COVID-19 Screening Report survey); HR & EHS will communicate COVID-19 cases at work or in programming as appropriate;
- Isolate and quarantine when necessary;
- Use masks when required by local public health authorities or other conditions;
- Continue COVID-19 hygiene, cleaning and disinfection in the workplace;
- Ensure you have taken UC ANR's online COVID-19 prevention training;
- Each location has a COVID-19 Prevention Plan (these should be reviewed monthly and kept up to date);
- See the UC ANR COVID-19 website for additional information about on-going safety standards: http://ucanr.edu/COVID19
Reasonable accommodation options:
Reasonable accommodation is a reasonable change or modification that will enable an employee to perform the essential functions of the job.
- If an employee has a medical condition that affects their ability to work within the conditions of their Flexible Work Agreement, it is critical to engage in the interactive process and coordinate with Human Resources to ensure we are accommodating appropriately based on feedback from a medical provider.
- We recognize that some employees may have the need for individual flexibility on any given day, based on workload or circumstances, and supervisors/directors have the authority to review and approve those requests; however, as a standard, employees should be working as stipulated in their Flexible Work Agreements.
- Human Resources can assist in facilitating these discussions.
Reporting COVID-positive cases:
HR and Risk & Safety follow up on every employee COVID-19 case to support the need for leave time and return to work, as well as regulatory-required reporting, contact tracing, tracking, and communication. We are ready to provide guidance and support for all locations in managing the response to these cases. Please see our guidance for reporting a positive COVID-19 case or exposure.