Faculty & Staff
FSCares Re-opening Plan

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Working on Campus - Keeping Faculty and Staff Safe

The College will support faculty and staff by creating the safest, healthiest possible campus environment. As detailed previously in the plan, the College will proceed with enhanced cleaning of campus facilities, including academic and administrative buildings, with a focus on common areas and high contact locations. Faculty and staff will be provided cloth facemasks. Physical distancing and other CDC guidelines will be practiced on campus.

The College will provide guidance to those faculty and staff with special circumstances regarding possible remote-work plans and flexible schedules.

Testing on Campus

  • The College will conduct random temperature checks at various locations daily on campus.
    • Faculty and staff with a temperature of 100.3 Fahrenheit or higher will be asked to self-isolate and contact their healthcare provider.
  • Faculty and staff should self-evaluate daily for symptoms identified by the CDC, including temperature checks. Employees with a fever of 100.3 Fahrenheit or higher, or who are experiencing any other symptoms such as cough, body aches, headache, loss of smell, etc., should immediately self-isolate and contact their healthcare provider.
  • To be tested for COVID-19, employees should contact their healthcare provider for guidance or to arrange an appointment. If unable to meet with a healthcare provider, employees may wish to consider other testing resources in Polk County. Please visit https://www.polk-county.net/covid-19/covid-19-testing-sites for more information. Medical insurances cover COVID-19 testing for free. Have your medical insurance ID card with you, and visit cvshealth.com or mylrh.com for testing locations.
  • A testing center for rapid-testing has been set up on campus for random testing of the student population. Additionally, Rapid-Trace is handling the contact tracing related to any COVID-19 positive cases identified on campus. In the event an employee is identified through contact tracing to be a person who has come in direct close contact with a COVID-19 positive case on campus, the employee may be asked to test at the on-site testing center.

Best Practices for a Healthy Work Environment

  • Place mail in-boxes outside the office door to eliminate people entering your workspace.
  • Use tape on the floor to identify how far a person can walk into your office.
  • Place a sign on the office door reminding visitors that face masks are required.
  • If your office is large enough for multiple visitors who can maintain the six-foot rule, place chairs in designated areas identified by tape to show where visitors can sit.
  • Pause at hall corners and entry areas to determine if others are nearby so you avoid bumping into each other.
  • Minimize attendance in break areas. If a break room is full, wait outside until it clears.
  • Talk with coworkers at office doorways rather than entering their workspace.
  • When attending off-campus events, avoid riding together in the same vehicle.
  • Use conference calling or video conference over in-person meetings when appropriate.
  • Use a lanyard to keep a mask handy.

Remote-Work Protocols

  • Staff and faculty who have a serious health condition may qualify for a temporary reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to work remotely from home. Contact the Office of Human Resources to discuss available options.
    • Office of Human Resources (email | 863.680.5079)
  • To be considered for a temporary remote-work plan, a faculty or staff member must:
    • Have a job that has been shown to be productive and effective when performed away from the office.
    • Faculty must make a request to the Provost to work remotely.
    • Staff must make a request to the Director of Human Resources to work remotely.
    • Work with the HR director to determine any necessary supporting documentation.
  • All College policies as found in the Employee Handbook located on the Portal, including those relating to scheduling vacation and other time off, continue to apply.

When Faculty and Staff Test Positive for COVID-19

Despite the best precautionary measures, risk of workplace exposure to communicable diseases does exist. Faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 will not be permitted to come to campus until they have cleared a 10-day isolation period from the date of exposure. If symptomatic, the employee will need to isolate for a period of 10 days since symptoms first appeared and may not return to work until meeting 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving. (Note: Loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation.)

Please refer to the following CDC details regarding quarantining:

Faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 must immediately alert their dean/supervisor and the Office of Human Resources (email | 863.680.5079).

The College is committed to supporting faculty and staff who test positive for, or are exposed to, COVID-19. These procedures outline the College’s response should a faculty or staff member contract COVID-19.

Faculty and staff who become symptomatic for COVID-19, or who believe that they have been exposed to someone who may be positive, must take a COVID-19 test and quarantine if the test is positive.

Faculty and Staff with Positive Tests

  • Faculty or staff members who show symptoms identified by the CDC should not come to work and should immediately contact their healthcare provider.
    • Faculty and staff must immediately alert their dean/supervisor and the Office of Human Resources (HR@flsouthern.edu | 863.680.5079).
  • Fulltime faculty and staff who must quarantine pending COVID-19 test results will be granted up to an extra 80 hours of sick time for the 2020-21 fiscal year. This additional leave will help ensure continued pay for those who must quarantine.
    • A valid document confirming testing date is required.
    • The 80 hours must be used for COVID-19 illness leave only and is a one-time benefit. Any portion of the 80 hours not used will be forfeited. The COVID-19 sick leave does not roll over into the next year.
  • Human Resources and the dean/supervisor will determine if remote work is appropriate.
  • The COVID-19 positive faculty or staff member will work with Rapid-Trace to identify all work areas where they were present three days prior to the onset of symptoms.
    • If symptoms were not present, the faculty or staff member will identify all work areas where they were present from the known or estimated exposure date.
    • The College will sanitize those areas immediately.
  • The affected faculty or staff member will identify individuals they encountered within the workplace in the three days prior to the onset of symptoms.
    • If symptoms were not present, the faculty or staff member will identify individuals they contacted from the known or estimated exposure date.
    • Using CDC guidance, the contact tracing company will inform all faculty and staff members who have been identified as being directly exposed.
    • In accordance with privacy laws, the College cannot personally identify infected persons.
  • If tested positive for COVID-19, faculty or staff members will be asked to provide a copy of the positive test result to include date of test.

Faculty and Staff Exposed to a Positive Case

  • Employees who have been identified through contact tracing (see more below) as having been exposed in the workplace to direct, close contact will be sent home to quarantine.
    • If exposed in the workplace, the employee may be asked to be tested in the on-site testing center. An appointment is arranged through Human Resources.
  • Employees who believe they have been potentially exposed to a positive COVID-19 case in their household or other non-work related event may be sent home to quarantine.
    • Faculty and staff must immediately alert their dean/supervisor and the Office of Human Resources (email | 863.680.5079).
    • Impacted faculty and staff members should contact a qualified healthcare provider to seek advice as to what additional steps, if any, should be taken.
  • Human Resources and the dean/supervisor will determine if remote work is appropriate.
  • If required to quarantine, fulltime faculty and staff will be granted a one-time additional sick benefit of up to 80 hours of sick time for the 2020-21 fiscal year. This additional leave will help ensure continued pay for those who must quarantine.
    • A valid document confirming testing date is required.
    • The 80 hours must be used for COVID-19 illness leave only and is a one-time benefit. Any portion of the 80 hours not used will be forfeited. The COVID-19 sick leave does not roll over into the next year.
  • If required to quarantine and a test was not taken, the employee may return to work after 14 days as long as the employee is not symptomatic and has not had a fever or used fever reducing medications for at least 24 hours prior to return to work.

Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 and the Workplace

Faculty and staff must immediately alert their dean/supervisor and the Office of Human Resources (email | 863.680.5079). This is considered a possible self-quarantine situation.

Faculty and staff must immediately alert their dean/supervisor and the Office of Human Resources (email | 863.680.5079). Although this is considered a possible self-quarantine situation, faculty and staff may be permitted to continue working, as long as they remain symptom-free and take additional precautions to protect themselves and others.

Employees in this situation that are allowed to continue working must monitor their health by doing at-home self-checks for COVID-19 symptoms and must wear a face mask at all times for 14 days after last exposure or until confirmation is received that the person they were in close contact with is not positive for COVID-19.

Contact your dean/supervisor, as faculty and staff members who are ill should not come to work. Those exhibiting symptoms will be sent home and subject to the process outlined above. Deans/supervisors must notify the Office of Human Resources if anyone is sent home sick or calls in sick when related to COVID-19.

Contact Tracing

To help limit the spread of COVID-19 on our campus and ensure the safety of our community, the College has partnered with Rapid-Trace, a local firm aiding businesses and institutions with contact tracing following positive COVID-19 tests.

Rapid-Trace contact tracers work for the College and will notify you in the event you have had close contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19.

With Rapid-Trace, we will be able to identify and inform people who have contracted the virus and those in contact with confirmed cases, so they can take the necessary steps to prevent further spread. Please cooperate with our contact tracing efforts and Rapid-Trace personnel.

Faculty and staff who become infected with COVID-19 should contact their immediate supervisor, Human Resources at HR@flsouthern.edu, the Rapid-Trace self-report line at 813.699.3551, or email selfreport@rapid-trace.com. Rapid-Trace and Florida Southern College are committed to keeping our community members safe and offering support in the event of a positive case or close contact. After business hours, please notify Rapid-Trace using the self-report line at 813.699.3551 or email selfreport@rapid-trace.com

Last updated: January 13, 2021