Faculty members who must isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 or need to quarantine due to being a contact of a positive case should work with their department chair or school director to move courses to remote status temporarily.
Several updates to insurance plans and benefits have been enacted related to COVID-19.
Employees should note that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires employers to provide employees with paid sick leave (up to 80 hours) or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19, is set to expire Dec. 31, 2020.
Other options include:
MOSERS pre-retirement seminars
Health and retirement plan provisions defined by the Corona Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)
An extended absence flag has been created in Northwest Success 360 to communicate a COVID-19 case to campus stakeholders. Log in to Northwest Success 360, find the student, and raise the flag titled, “Student reported that they will be absent for a week or more of classes.”
The flag will trigger a notification to the student’s course instructors as well as various campus offices for services or account holds.
Although the flag system provides a notification, students who must isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 or need to quarantine due to being a contact of a positive case are expected to communicate directly with their instructors to arrange accommodations and progress through their coursework.
An extended absence flag has been created in Northwest Success 360 to communicate this to campus stakeholders. Login to Northwest Success 360, find the student, and raise the flag titled, “Student reported that they will be absent for a week or more of classes.”
In alignment with federal and state guidelines and processes, Northwest is approving and tracking purchases related to COVID-19 mitigation measures.
The University has provided a PowerPoint with instructions and a financial tracking form for employees to use. To access these tools, log in to MyNorthwest, click the Employee Resources tab and then look for the expense tracking links within the Tools module.
If an employer learns of an employee’s medical condition, such as a diagnosis of the coronavirus, the employer may not share this information. Under the confidentiality provisions of ADA, FMLA, and WC, only those who “need to know” may know about the diagnosis. It may be difficult to demonstrate that, for example, a line manager “needed to know” the employee’s specific diagnosis. Instead, the line manager likely only needs to know the employee will be on a leave of absence and not able to work.
Therefore, employers should keep an employee’s medical condition and diagnosis confidential and private unless there are true health and safety circumstances deemed by the Department of Health. It is always the employee’s right to release and share their own medical condition information.
Employers may educate employees on how they can best protect themselves and what steps employees should take if they were exposed or experience symptoms. The Department of Health will conduct a trace and contact employee who may have been exposed and need to be quarantined.
In general, employers can ask an employee how he or she is feeling but should not inquire about a specific illness as that could rise to the level of a disability-related inquiry under the ADA.
