Unemployment Insurance and Self-Imposed Quarantines
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The era of COVID-19 has ushered in a bevy of new staffing concerns. Not least among them is being able to predictably rely on staffing levels when some staff may be
quarantined by
[JS1]
local, state or federal direction or guidance. While the employee work exclusions issued by government authorities are challenging enough, the issue quickly can become a slippery slope if staff start imposing “self-quarantines”, at times accompanied by an expectation to collect unemployment insurance benefits.
How should supervisors and administrators avoid this slippery slope? A little information, communication, and COVID-19 specific HR policy making can go a long way to ensuring that staff concerns are heard and that everyone is treated fairly and equitably should a mandatory quarantine be necessary.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s
Unemployment COVID-19 Public Information
page, in most cases, self-imposed quarantines do not provide eligibility for unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits are available to individuals who are totally or partially unemployed due to no fault of their own. In the case of a “self-quarantine”, the individual—not the employer—is choosing not to work and, therefore, would be ineligible.
When an employee must be excluded from work due to a government authority and the employee is otherwise able and willing to work, the employee may meet the UI eligibility requirements. Further, if the employer restricts the individual from work but does not offer telework, the individual might be eligible for unemployment benefits if they met the monetary and weekly eligibility criteria. In both cases, eligibility is established when the employer or a government authority is the one to impose the work restriction/quarantine, not the staff member.
Developing a COVID-19 specific infection control policy for staff exposure can help guide staff and ensure that all staff are treated the same regarding their exposure and spreading concerns. In developing such a policy, make sure to consult the CDC’s
Interim U.S. Guidance for Risk Assessment and Work Restrictions for Healthcare Personnel with Potential Exposure to COVID-19. If staff are concerned about spreading the virus due to contact with infected people at work, they can be directed back to the infection control measures and use of PPE. If the contact occurs at work according to your policies, then staff can reasonably be assured that their risk of spreading the virus is low. A well-crafted policy would also address what happens if contact at work occurs that is not in accordance with the policy, including remedial measures and guidance on how to follow infection control practices.
For exposure outside of work, consider developing guidelines of where to draw the line. For example: What was the extent of the contact? Is the infected person in the same household? Did contact occur outside or inside? Was the infected person/staff person wearing a mask? Talk to your staff about the specific circumstances of their exposure and then determine if you are comfortable with them continuing to work, according to the policies and guidelines you’ve developed.
The takeaway is that management, not staff, determines infection control practices. It’s important to listen to staff concerns (i.e. give due care to not ignore a reasonable concern that someone might be a carrier) and suggestions on how to make the work environment safe, but at the end of the day, it’s a managerial decision to make.
Also, make sure staff are aware of any policies or leave available for when staff must care for a family member who is sick with COVID-19 or to care for children because schools/daycares are closed. The
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program covers a situation where an individual cannot work because they are caring for someone with COVID-19, but not under a self-imposed quarantine.
Keep in mind the Emergency Nurse Aide and Temporary Nurse Aide training programs are available to help get new talent on the job very quickly and to fill any gaps that may be caused by staff being out due to COVID-19. Last month’s Workforce Wednesday included information on this program that can help.
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Aide’s Angels: Supporting CNAs and Nurses, Improving Retention
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Prior to the COVID pandemic, WHCA/WiCAL member facility, Hope Health and Rehabilitation in Lomira, was facing serious staffing challenges throughout their facility, with shift nurses, CNAs, and management staff moonlighting as aides on the floor and excessive double shifts. To address this problem, the facility created a new caregiver role, the Aide’s Angel. This role proved to be invaluable when the pandemic hit.
These caregivers provide support to nurses and CNAs by performing many non-nursing care tasks, including:
- Answering call lights
- Activity assistance, 1:1, sitting outside with residents
- Resident hand washing
- Stocking supplies
- Disinfecting high touch areas
- Delivering Meal Trays
- Delivering Laundry
- 2nd assist for mechanical lifts
Since February, Hope has hired 15 Aide’s Angels. Many were brand new to the healthcare field. All were intrigued by the job and excited to have the ability to get their foot in the door in a caregiver role that didn't require certification.
While some learned that healthcare was not the right fit for them, seven of the Aide’s Angels have enjoyed their work so much they enrolled in the Emergency Nurse Aide Training Program and are on the path to becoming CNAs.
Since the launch of the Aide’s Angel role, mandated overtime for nursing staff decreased from an average of twelve shifts a month to two shifts a month by having these additional caregivers on the floor. There has been only 5 percent turnover of nursing staff that had been hired before the pandemic hit.
“We’ve been so proud and fortunate that our team members have been staying on despite all the changes and challenges,” said Administrator Julia Schramek. “Additionally, the overall sense of morale has improved - even in the midst of a pandemic!”
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Long-Term Care Facilities Honor CNAs during National Nursing Assistants Week
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Recently, facilities across the state of Wisconsin honored their nursing assistant staff during National Nursing Assistants Week held from June 18-June 24.
The 43rd annual National Nursing Assistants Week provided a timely opportunity to honor caregivers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic with the theme “Nursing Assistants: Creating a Community of Caring.”
Holidays like National Nursing Assistants Week offer an excellent opportunity for facilities to celebrate the exceptional staff working in your facility. Upcoming holidays to celebrate staff are listed below. If a date for the holiday in 2021 has not yet been published, the month that the holiday is celebrated is listed rather than a specific date.
September 13-19: National Assisted Living Week
January 2021: Activities Professionals Week
February 2021: Pride in Food Service Work
February 2021: Alzheimer’s and Dementia Staff Education Week
March 2021: World Social Work Day
March 2021: National Doctor’s Day
March 2021: Long-Term Care Administrators Week
April 2021: National Volunteer Week
April 2021: Careers in Aging Week
April 2021: National Administrative Professionals Day
May 2021: National Nurses Week
May 2021: National Skilled Nursing Care Week
June 2021: National Nursing Assistants Week
Check out how some of WHCA/WiCAL’s member facilities celebrated National Nursing Assistants Week below for ideas for next year!
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DQA Holds Webinar on Nurse Aide Training Emergency Rule
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The DHS Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) hosted a webinar today to discuss the Department’s plan for an Emergency Rule to allow for more certainty through most of the remainder of 2020 as it relates to nurse aide training during COVID-19.
After expiration of Emergency Order 21, providers have been required to submit waiver requests to continue or to create Temporary Nurse Aide and Emergency Nurse Aide training programs. DHS has drafted an Emergency Rule to allow these programs to continue through much of the end of 2020 without a waiver requirement, as long as federal waivers remain in place.
Nikki Andrews, Director of the Bureau of Education Services and Technology within DQA, said that the Emergency Rule is expected to be published soon within the next 7-10 days.
Andrews noted that if a facility wants to begin an emergency nurse aide or temporary nurse aide training program before publication of the Emergency Rule, and hasn’t yet submitted a waiver request, a waiver request will be needed in the meantime. If you would like to submit a waiver request to start a program before the 7-10 day Emergency Rule publication period, please contact
jstoa@whcawical.org for more information
. Andrews also noted that once the Emergency Rule is published, all waivers related to emergency nurse aide and temporary nurse aide training programs will be rescinded, as they are no longer necessary under the Emergency Rule.
Therese Van Male, Nurse Consultant with the Bureau of Education Services and Technology, said that emergency rule will last through mid-December, with two opportunities for extensions.
Van Male noted that once the emergency rule expires:
- Temporary nurse aides must stop working immediately.
- The 120-day timeline for an emergency nurse aide to successfully complete a training program and a competency evaluation program begins the day after expiration.
WHCA/WiCAL will share the Emergency Rule with members once it is published.
Andrews and Van Male also noted that nurse aide testing is still occurring during COVID-19, although it may be more limited based on availability of testing sites. Headmaster is now offering a virtual test option for the knowledge test, with students using the traditional testing application, and a proctor virtually monitoring their work via Zoom over a cell phone. The skills test is still conducted on-site and is still currently occurring, with COVID precautions in place.
A recording of the full webinar will be available
here
under the Resources section.
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Washington Post
In the parking lot of an assisted-living center in southern Illinois, Shalla McBride sat in a Buick stocked with hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes and prayed for her mother to watch over her.
Kaiser Family Foundation
The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting significant challenges for many segments of the health care industry. For the long-term care (LTC) industry, which includes facility settings such as skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs), and home health (HH) providers, which deliver clinical and personal care services in the home, coronavirus infections are a grave concern for LTC providers and service users alike.
National Health Law Program
A recent NPR investigation into nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks revealed one factor strongly correlated with the most affected facilities. Not quality of care. Not staffing levels. It was race and ethnicity.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Federal health officials are hoping to stretch the supplies used to test for the coronavirus by combining samples from a number of people and running a single test. Chinese health officials used that strategy to rapidly test large populations in Wuhan and Beijing.
FDA Statement
Diagnostic tests are an important tool in anticipating and meeting the continuing and evolving public health needs as we combat COVID-19. Today, the FDA took a meaningful step forward in getting more tests to more Americans more quickly and making that process even easier for developers by posting template updates regarding the validation of molecular diagnostic tests for developers that intend their assay to be used for pooling patient samples or for screening asymptomatic individuals not suspected of having COVID-19.
Sheboygan Press
At the beginning of May, state health officials announced plans to test every staff member and resident at Wisconsin's 373 nursing homes for COVID-19.
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WHCA/WiCAL
: The Wisconsin Health Care Association/Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living is a non-profit organization dedicated to representing, protecting and advancing the interests of Wisconsin's long-term care provider community and the residents they serve.
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