Hello SCIHP Staff,
As you know SCIHP is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and is committed to keeping our employees safe during this time.
Provided you will find information regarding some of the various options available to employees for compensation including EDD Unemployment Insurance information. There are also links within the page so you can review which option you may be eligible for.
Please know that our HR Department is here to answer your questions:
PTO and Sick Leave – SCIHP employees have the option to utilize their PTO or Sick leave benefits.
Workers who have had their hours reduced—or whose employer is currently not operating due to COVID-19, can file an unemployment insurance claim. Per the EDD on its website, unemployment insurance “provides partial wage replacement benefit payments to workers who lose their job or have their hours reduced, through no fault of their own.” Workers waylaid due to the impact of COVID-19 don’t have to seek work during this period, but they do have to “remain able, available and ready to work” and meet eligibility criteria while claiming benefits. Typical benefits received range from $40 to $450 per week, per the EDD. Independent workers can learn more about their options here.
Parents who miss work due to their child’s school being closed might also be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. “Eligibility considerations include if you have no other care options and if you are unable to continue working your normal hours remotely,” according to the EDD. Apply via the previous unemployment insurance claim link.
California workers who can’t work and who are medically certified to either have COVID-19 themselves or to have been exposed to it can file a disability insurance claim. This option provides workers with short-term benefit payments “to eligible workers who have a full or partial loss of wages due to a non-work-related illness, injury, or pregnancy,” per the EDD. Benefit amounts typically are about 60 to 70 percent of a worker’s wages (depending on income) and range from $50 to $1,300 a week.
Those workers unable to work due to caring for an ill or quarantined family member with COVID-19—that can be verified by a medical professional—can file a paid family leave claim. This benefit “provides up to six weeks of benefit payments to eligible workers who have a full or partial loss of wages because they need time off work to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child,” per the EDD. Benefit amounts are about the same as those filing a disability claim. The Cal. Department of Industrial Relations has confirmed that employers cannot require employees in quarantine to use sick leave. See California Department of Industrial Relations: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) FAQs on laws enforced by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/2019-NovelCoronavirus.htm.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order has waived the typical one-week waiting period for benefits; this means that workers can receive benefits the first week they are out of work. EDD processing typically kicks in within a few weeks of receiving a claim. In California, the Governor’s recent Executive Order (E.O. No. N-25-20) gives the State discretion to waive the one-week waiting period for both disability and unemployment claims related to COVID-19.
To learn more about your benefit options while impacted by COVID-19, visit the EDD’s website.
Also the H.R. 6201 Bill also know as the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” is still in the process to become law. At this time it has been introduced and the house has passed it. For more information and to track the progress of the bill you can go onto the Congress website: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201/text
Or the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/index.html https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/nCOV2019.aspx
Thank you for your commitment and with gratitude,
Human Resources Department
Sonoma County Indian Health Project
Tel: (707) 521-4641, (707) 521-4659, (707) 521-4654
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited