You have probably seen that Chancellor Collins and Dean Flotte have announced that “Beginning Monday, March 16 through Friday, April 3, employees who are not required at any UMMS location to perform essential functions are encouraged to work from home.”

Working from home

The SHARE contract specifically says that working from home is an option, if it works for everyone involved. The language is in the Work/Family section, at the bottom of p. 17 of the contract. There seems to be a popular misconception that hourly employees are not allowed to work from home – we have had a lot of questions about this. If your manager has said that you cannot work from home because you are an hourly employee, they don’t have the correct information. Feel free to share the contract language with them.

If your work cannot be done from home

This afternoon’s message from the Chancellor and the Dean recognizes that some people’s work requires them to be on campus. Your department should be giving you guidance about what they expect.

Closed schools and other questions

We are glad that the Medical School is taking leadership by getting as many people working from home as possible. In addition to making those people safer, it also reduces the risk for those who do have to report to work, because there will be fewer people around to spread the virus.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, some relating to how to handle the closing of public schools. The message from the Chancellor and Dean said that, “In the coming days, additional guidance will be sent to managers regarding how personnel and paid time off policies will be applied during this period.” We will continue to press for answers and support for SHARE members.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or concerns.