FSU employee memo about childcare raises concerns by faculty

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Some Florida State faculty raised questions after administration released a memo about how the transition from remote working would play out in regards to childcare.

The memo, which was released Friday, indicated employees would no longer be able to care for children at home while still working remotely starting August 7.

FSU Remote Work Memo from 6/27 — FSU Remote Work Memo from 6/27(Florida State University)

That requirement is a normal part of the university’s teleworker policy, but had been waved during the pandemic, when nearly every employee was forced to stay at home.

Professor Matthew Lata is the President of UFF-FSU, the union that represents faculty. He said school leaders should rethink the idea.

“As long as parents can accomplish their duties from home, it shouldn’t matter if their children are under the same roof or not,” he said.

“For whatever reason, they might want the children to stay home. There might be an elderly parent who lives there. There might be other health issues they don’t wish to reveal.”

On Monday, Vice President for Human Resources Renisha Gibbs sent out an updated memo. It included a more detailed breakdown of current FSU policy and how it was applied during the pandemic.

The memo explained that Leon County schools should be open by then, along with daycares and other childcare options. If local schools scale back reopening plans, the university would reconsider its policies.

Read a segment of Monday’s memo below.

Remote Work Update
We previously announced that effective August 7, 2020, the University will return to normal policy and no longer allow employees to care for children while working remotely. The University’s requirement under the normal telecommuting policy generally applies to employees whose job duties require them to be on campus full-time during normal business hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm) and is intended to create flexible work arrangements that serve both the needs of the employee and their work unit. We have not typically required employees who are already regularly performing their job remotely, or a combination of on-campus and remote work (e.g. faculty) to enter into a Telecommuting Agreement, nor were those employees required to complete the Temporary Remote Work Agreement at the beginning of the COVID-19 emergency. Therefore, the University reverting back to normal policy does not affect their regular work arrangement.
The University’s normal policy on Telecommuting states in pertinent part:
“If a child or dependent is present during scheduled work hours, arrangements must be made for the care of the child or dependent by someone other than the employee and the specifics of the arrangements may be requested by HR to be submitted with the Telecommuting Agreement.”
In an effort to be responsive to our employee needs at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, we immediately suspended this part of the of the policy (copied above) and allowed employees to care for children while also working remotely. Our decision to shift to remote work in the spring was made in conjunction with decisions by Leon County Schools, our local K-12 public school district, as well as neighboring districts, to move to virtual learning. Our decision was done in part to support our employees — many of whom are parents of school-age children.
Now that our local public schools are planning to resume in-person instruction next month and local daycare centers are open throughout the county, FSU is also shifting back to normal policy. Although we were planning to begin repopulating our campus up to 50% capacity beginning July 6, we had always planned to continue to allow remote work while caring for dependent children until the start of the K-12 school year.
As a reminder, employees have the opportunity to request a temporary modification to any on-campus work assignment based on high-risk concerns by completing the Request for Temporary Modification form and submitting it to their supervisor or Department Chair. Information on the request process can be found on the HR website.
Florida State University is closely monitoring Leon County School’s reopening plans. If circumstances change, Florida State University will make any adjustments accordingly.
Florida State University Employee Memo 6/29

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