Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) Available to NOVA Employees

If you or an immediate family member come down with COVID-19, you may be able to take Public Health Emergency Leave to recover and/or care for your family member. Effective January 10, 2022, eligible employees continue to have access of up to 40 hours of paid leave to attend to their own medical needs (and/or those of their immediate family members) due to positive cases of COVID-19 (DHRM Policy Guide).

Additionally, employees who test positive for COVID-19 but remain asymptomatic may telework for the isolation period with approval from their supervisor, provided the duties of the position are suited for telework. Please refer to the article here for information on when employees need to quarantine or isolate in various circumstances.

If you need to access PHEL, please complete the PHEL Request Form, including supervisor approval, and submit the form to dataops@nvcc.edu. 

Employees may use up to 8 hours of PHEL to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine or recover from side effects of the vaccine. Please submit the completed PHEL Request Form and proof of the vaccine appointment (or your vaccination card) to access this benefit.

Wage employees and adjunct faculty are also eligible for PHEL. The number of hours available to wage employees and adjunct faculty is prorated according to the average hours normally worked in their position over a one-week period (up to 29 hours per week). Please note that wage employees or adjunct faculty who are not currently working for NOVA are not eligible to use PHEL.

If you have any questions, please contact Human Resources at dataops@nvcc.edu.

Submitted by:
Charlotte Calobrisi, AVP-HR, CCalobrisi@nvcc.edu