H1N1 Flu
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Date: September 10, 2009
To: Deans and Directors, Business Managers and all Yale Managers of Staff
From: Michael A. Peel, Vice President, Human Resources and Administrator
Dear Colleagues,
In preparation for a fast-approaching flu season, a University-wide initiative is underway to inform the Yale community of policies, procedures and practices, particularly in cases involving the H1N1 virus (commonly known as swine flu). Because of the highly communicable nature of this virus, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is projecting an increase in flu cases nationwide. To ensure campus-wide readiness, we advise you to review the following information carefully and thoroughly.
For the latest information about how the University is preparing for the flu, visit Yale Emergency Management at www.yale.edu/secretary/emergency.
- Prevention – We urge all members of the University to familiarize themselves with the wide range of information about flu prevention available online through Yale Emergency Management (www.yale.edu/secretary/emergency) or the Yale Health Plan (www.yale.edu/yhp). Please share these resources with your employees and colleagues.
For the schedule of seasonal flu vaccination clinics on campus, visit www.yale.edu/yuhs/news/seasonalflu_clinics.html.
Managing an employee with the flu or flu-like symptoms – Please encourage all employees with flu or flu-like symptoms to stay home for 24 hours until he or she is free of fever or shows no signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Health Care Workers are instructed to stay home for 24 hr after they are no longer febrile, without the use of fever reducing medicine, unless they work with severely immunocompromised patients such as transplant units, in which case it is 7days after the onset of symptoms or 24 hrs after symptoms are gone, which ever is longer.
When an employee is sick with the flu or caring for a family member with the flu, he or she should use sick time; the Expanded Sick Time Policy for those caring for ill family members can be found at http://www.yale.edu/hronline/
Employees with no available sick time – If an employee with the flu has no available sick time, we ask departments to be flexible with their time-off policies and allow employees to use other kinds of accrued time, such as vacation or personal days. If an employee has used all accrued time off, the employee will not be paid for the time he or she is out of the office.
Developing a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)
We strongly advise all departments to develop a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) that outlines in detail how your department or area could continue to operate during times of emergency. Such planning should include the following steps:
Identify critical functions in your department or area
- A critical function is an activity that must be performed to enable your department to achieve its operational objectives. It is important that you define the critical functions in your department or work unit and identify the positions that are necessary to perform this work.
Examples of critical functions include those that are required by regulation/statutes, enable the hiring of employees, are necessary for grant management, payroll, security etc.
Identify a plan point person
- Typically, the department business manager acts as the plan point person; this person can make decisions on staffing levels and determine alternative work functions. The plan point person will be required to coordinate an accurate and regular report of the number of employees absent due to flu-related reasons via a web-based survey; instructions will be distributed shortly.
- In aggregate, this data will help the University gauge the overall health of the campus and guide major operational decisions. Identify an alternate for employee time entry
This role might be filled by your plan point person or another individual to ensure that employees are paid on time. Educate your employees on health safety procedures Know your resources – - Business managers and all Yale managers can contact their assigned HR Generalist with concerns and questions. A directory of HR Generalists can be found at www.yale.edu/hronline/hrgeneralist/specialists.htm
- Managers of union-represented employees - Please communicate your Continuity of Operations Plan with Union representatives before the need arises. For further assistance, contact Labor Relations via e-mail at labor.relations@yale.edu.
- Employees can call the Employee Service Center at 432-5552 with questions regarding their paid time off benefits.Employees who think they have the flu who are Yale Health Plan Members can call a dedicated flu hotline at 1-866-924-YALE (9253).
- Non-Yale Health Plan members should call their primary care provider(s).
- If your staffing levels drop to a point that your department can no longer meet critical functions, contact your HR Generalist for guidance about using the Interim Employment Pool (IEP). If you need assistance with administrative functions, the IEP (Clerical and Technical employees in layoff status) is available. For access, complete a requisition through the STARS system at http://www.yale.edu/hronline/stars.
For the latest information about how the University is preparing for H1N1 flu, visit Yale Emergency Management at www.yale.edu/secretary/emergency. Information on this site includes official University communications and safety procedures. If you have an employee-related question, please contact your HR Generalist.
Although I hope there will be no need to exercise the outlined procedures here, your cooperation in taking the necessary precautions is extremely important.
