The expansion of PHE Leave to now include the above reasons does not give employees an extra eighty (80) hours of PHE Leave for those conditions, it just means they can use their eighty (80) hours of PHE Leave for a broader range of conditions.
As of November 11, 2022, PHE leave is usable for a range of PHE-related needs, not just for confirmed cases. PHE-related needs now include:
- Symptoms of COVID-19, flu, RSV or other similar respiratory illnesses
- Quarantining or isolating due to exposure
- Testing for COVID-19 or similar respiratory illnesses
- Vaccination and its side effects
- Inability to work due to health conditions that may increase susceptibility or risk of COVID, flu, RSV or similar respiratory illnesses
- Needs to care for family (illness, school closure, etc.)
As a reminder, the PHE Leave is still based on this going into effect on January 1, 2021. In other words, when questioning if one still has PHE Leave available, we need to look back to any PHE Leave used from January 1, 2021 to the present day.
We did reach out to the CO Department of Labor (DOL) to confirm that this expansion of reasons begins on November 11, 2022 and moves forward from that date. The DOL confirmed that this is the case; someone who had RSV in October of 2022 may not use PHE Leave for that instance as it occurred before November 11, 2022.
Based on the current emergency declarations, PHE emergency leave will continue at least into February 2023, but will continue longer if either the federal or the state PHE declaration is renewed further into 2023.
If you believe that you were absent from work as of November 11, 2022, or later, for a now covered PHE Leave reason, please connect with your supervisor.