March 25, 2020
To comply with Governor Stitt’s March 24 Safer-at-Home order in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the University will further reduce operations to essential services beginning Thursday, March 26 through April 15. This applies to all three campuses. This situation is evolving, and the University’s needs and response may change at any time.
All employees who do not perform in-person essential services on campus are directed to telecommute to the extent their duties can be performed remotely. Supervisors can direct employees to perform duties outside of employees’ normal responsibilities that are related to their work and can be done remotely, including training or cross-training for other departmental duties.
All employees who do perform in-person essential services are expected to continue working on campus and should check with their supervisors about their schedule. Essential services are functions and duties that should be done on campus and should not be deferred during a public health emergency; these duties should be performed continuously or resumed quickly following a disruption.
Benefits-eligible employees in non-essential roles who are unable to telecommute, and cannot be assigned other responsibilities, will continue to be paid. They should submit their time as Administrative Leave-COVID in coordination with their supervisor. Employees who are not benefits-eligible are not eligible for Administrative Leave.
If an employee has unscheduled or scheduled paid time off (PTO) during this event, the time should not be changed to Administrative Leave. The employee should continue to report their time as Paid Leave.
Supervisors are asked to provide as much support as possible to employees working remotely. Answers to frequently asked questions about telecommuting can be found here: https://hr.ou.edu/News/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
Please contact Human Resources with any additional questions at ohr@ou.edu.
