The Boulder campus has a new policy regarding Health and Safety related to COVID-19. View the COVID-19 Health and Safety Policy. For questions about return to research, visit the Return to On-Campus Research and Creative Work Resources.
Step 1: Enforce the Department Plan
Supervisors should enforce the approved department plan.
- Which employees will be returned and why?
- Will they be returned to a normal schedule? Reduced hours?
- Which employees continue to work from home? Why?
Criteria for Return to Work
The decision to return employees to campus needs administrative officer approval and shall be based upon the following criteria:
- Essential duties must be done on campus or can be done significantly better on campus, and
- Duties support
- the health and welfare of students
- the academic or programmatic needs of students
- the on campus student experience, or
- Duties support mission critical work including primarily faculty and staff who support on campus research or in person teaching. This includes staff who support teaching and learning, information technology and building and campus maintenance.If the employee can work remotely, the employee should continue to work remotely to reduce the population density for those who are working on campus.
Employee Relations is available to answer questions officers and supervisors may have as they assess the need to return employees to campus.
Workplace Readiness
The work location should be assessed and prepped before any employee returns. View the Infrastructure Mitigation Efforts page.
Step 2: Communicate the Plan
Send a communication to employees who will be required to return. The email should provide employees all the necessary resources if they do not feel they can return to campus.
If an employee is concerned about the return to campus:
Step 3: Ensure Compliance
Required Training Tracking
Each employee returning to campus must complete the training titled “CU: COVID-19 Safety and Awareness-CU Boulder” prior to their return. This training can be found in the MyCU Portal by accessing the SkillSoft tile. It is the department’s responsibility to track the required SkillSoft training.
Daily Health Questionnaire
Individuals will be asked to self-screen daily before leaving home for any COVID-19 symptoms and complete the health questionnaire. If an employee is displaying any of the symptoms or feeling ill, they should stay at home, consult with their primary care physician, complete the daily health questionnaire and notify their supervisor.
For the safety of our CU Boulder community, employees directed to work on campus are required to inform their supervisor if they have, or think they may have been exposed to, COVID-19. During this pandemic, information may need to be shared to protect our employees. If there is a positive test reported or a presumptive positive case, the department and all resources will do everything possible to protect the employee’s identity and only those who need to know will be notified with next steps.
View the Workplace Risk Mitigation supervisor decision trees for detailed information:
- Staff and Researchers Workplace Risk Mitigation Decision Tree (including grad students and student employees)
- Researchers Companion Document
- Instructional Personnel Decision Tree (including grad students)
If a supervisor learns their employee has contracted COVID-19 or has COVID-19 symptoms, the supervisor or department HR (depending on department protocol) will begin three separate steps.
Step 1: Manage the Sick Employee
The supervisor, in consultation with department HR or central HR, is also responsible for:
- Telling the employee to stay home and consult with their physician
- Provide employee with leave information including Colorado Healthy Families and Workplace Act and sick leave or refer to Leave@colorado.edu.
- Allow employee to return to work when one of the appropriate strategies, provided by the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/isolation.html), is complete.
Step 2: Work Environment Mitigation
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the safety of their work environment by using the workplace mitigation protocol. The supervisor should consult with department HR or central HR for guidance.
- Contact building proctor who will contact the appropriate facilities management group:
- Facilities Management; 303-492-5522
- Student Affairs
- Research
- To ensure safety of the workspace, supervisors should hold employees out on leave who have been in close proximity with a COVID-19 positive employee. It is important to note, if the supervisor ensures appropriate physical distancing measures have been observed, most employees will not be impacted.
- If supervisor believes close proximity exists, the supervisor should hold the employee out on leave for 14 days using FFCRA leave if unable to work remotely.
- Employees may receive a call from CU Boulder’s Health & Wellness Public Health and asked to quarantine as part of the public health contact tracing process following the CDC quarantine guidance (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html).
- A department may choose, in consultation with department HR or campus HR, to send the following to employees/building occupants:
- The date an employee tested positive without identifying the employee
- The building the employee was in when they tested positive
- The steps taken after the positive test result for workplace mitigation
- A reminder that individuals that were potentially in close proximity were notified separately
Surveillance testing is not available for anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19. Employees who have symptoms are required to notify their supervisor and should seek a test through their medical provider or other local testing sites.
For more information please visit Protect Our Herd.
Tools & Resources
Workplace Risk Mitigation Decision Trees (if an employee is sick):
- Staff and Researchers Workplace Risk Mitigation Decision Tree (including grad students and student employees)
- Instructional Personnel Decision Tree (including grad students)
If an employee is concerned about the return to campus:
For notifying employees about returning to campus:
Employee Surveillance Testing