NORTHFIELD — The Selectboard has enacted a temporary personnel policy that provides up to two separate incidents of up to 40 hours of town-provided sick leave for town employees who test positive for COVID-19.
Under the policy, town employees are asked to quarantine for five days from the date of their last symptom. Asymptomatic people, meanwhile, are asked to quarantine for five days from the date of their positive COVID-19 test. Employees must show proof of a positive test result.
Town Administrator Andrea Llamas brought the discussion about enacting a policy to the Selectboard last week, and following approval, began writing a memo to send to town employees and finalizing a form to keep track of the used sick leave, with help from the treasurer/collector. Llamas said she intends to make the policy retroactive, but noted there haven’t been any town employees out of work due to testing positive for COVID-19 prior to Jan. 1.
“I haven’t had any COVID absences until fairly recently,” she said in a phone interview. “I have had a couple people out because they felt they were exposed, but that’s not part of this policy. They have to test positive.”
As of Jan. 13, Llamas said Northfield had one full-time employee test positive and had at least one part-time worker who was out with COVID-19. Another worker was waiting for a test result.
When factoring in everyone the town gives a wage to, regardless of whether they work out of Town Hall, Llamas said Northfield has more than 100 employees, all of whom would be eligible for sick leave under the personnel policy provided they can show the scheduled work days they will miss. The sick leave will be paid through the payroll account, Llamas said, and the town is eligible to be reimbursed up to $850 per employee under the state’s COVID-19 guidelines.
During the Selectboard’s discussion, multiple board members noted the need to have a policy in place, particularly for asymptomatic employees who may be more likely to stay home from work if there is compensation, and for part-time employees who don’t have sick time.
“If they work less than 20 hours a week, they don’t have benefited sick time,” Llamas explained. “We’re relying on them and their honesty. … I have no reason to think they wouldn’t stay home; they don’t want to get their fellow employees sick. But I do understand you have financial obligations as well.”
While Llamas said she researched other local towns’ COVID-19 personnel policies, she found they are “all over the map.”
“Different towns are responding in different ways. Communities are trying to do what suits their community best,” she said. “It’s different in larger communities than smaller communities. We don’t have a lot of redundancy. If someone is out of the office, that may mean the office is closed. … A larger community, it may be easier to absorb when someone is out sick.”
While the temporary personnel policy doesn’t have an end date set in stone, Llamas said she will bring the policy back to the Selectboard for reconsideration depending on a variety of factors, including COVID-19 rates. Should positivity rates fall dramatically in town, she said the policy may no longer be needed.
Reach Shelby Ashline at 413-772-0261, ext. 270 or sashline@recorder.com.