MRA just released its latest Hot Topic Survey on COVID-19 Absence Pay.
“With the recent dismissal of the proposed Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), employers still do not have clear direction or understanding of the actions to take regarding COVID-19 absences in the workplace,” said Zach Day, MRA Director, Surveys, Custom Research & Analytics. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution. So, we asked the questions to find out what organizations are doing.”
“Surprisingly, we found that 53% have not changed their attendance policy to excuse COVID-related absences.”
Hot Topic COVID-19 Absence Pay Survey Highlights:
- MRA’s Hot Topic Survey does show that 31% of organizations are offering additional paid time off (PTO) for COVID-19 illness in addition to existing PTO.
- When asked how much time employers are providing (based on a regularly scheduled work week), the highest percentage (35%) offer one week, and 22% offer two weeks.
- The majority (67%) of responders use guidelines from the CDC to determine the number of paid days to provide for COVID-19 absences.
- In addition, 87% of companies do not have a maximum number of unpaid days that can be used for COVID-related absences before applying the attendance policy (assuming employee is not eligible for FMLA).
- Also noted was that the majority (77%) of companies do not pay for COVID-19 testing.
Added Day, “During times of such great uncertainty, it helps to know what other companies are doing and solutions that work. These Hot Topic Surveys are designed to provide data and information to help employers make the best-informed decisions for their workplaces.”
“It is vital for organizations to use this data as they are making business decisions,” said Cherrie Spurlin, MRA Executive Director, Western Illinois & Iowa
For the full survey results or to see more MRA Hot Topic Surveys,  visit the website.
