Public officers entitled to ‘pandemic leave’ to care for children
Director of the Human Resources in the public service Michelle Donovan-Stevens is advising that select public officers are entitled to claim ‘pandemic leave’ to care for their children.
Donovan-Stevens made the remark via social media on Thursday while addressing various concerns from government employees. These concerns stem from the closure of schools due to the Novel Coronavirus.
She said: “It is heavy on everybody’s heart because our children are often our priority and closest to us … So we have recognized for our officers who may not have alternatives, who may not have trusted provisions, who have children under the age of 18, and they are in their care, or they are their legal guardians as well, and they have not been able to source care for those children; they have a right based on the cabinet’s decision to take leave.”
However, Donovan-Stevens said public officers must exhaust all other options before considering pandemic leave.
“Where they are not available, we will recognize this as leave authorized that will not be charged against their annual leave and it will be classified as well as pandemic leave due to school closures,” the Human Resources boss said.
She continued: “We do have the continuity of the public service to bear in mind that persons can look for responsible options to safeguard their families while also being at work.”
She further said there are other options such as working part-time, working flexible hours, or remotely.
In the meantime, Deputy Governor David Archer Jr said the pandemic leave would not mean a vacation.
He explained: “The one caveat that we have to be very, very clear on is our objectives are to allow those persons [to still] work and contribute. So we have to work on remote access for them, so it is not a situation where we are saying if you are in this situation, you can go home and just hang out.”
“We will provide you with the right opportunities that you can work and maybe on a daily basis a messenger might give you a file or two; you might not work a full eight hours, it might be six. So yes you will not be penalized if you are in that situation, but the expectation is you have to fall in line with the remote working policy along those lines,” he added.
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And send us home with our overdue increments
Glad to see the government protecting their own. Why care about anyone or anything else. Paid leave for Belongers and nothing for expat workers. You people just don’t understand Karma. You all wonder why such a small Territory is ridden with one disaster after another. Why? You are a rotten people and bring it upon yourselves.
Im Wondering why your ungratefull @$$ is not in your perfect disaster free country instead of here in the BVI bad talking the place and the people you rely on for a living.
You are a psycho. who send call you?
darn if you do darn if you don’t, everything is a problem to some… who you work for should be concern about your family being taken care of while you work. either leave ppl be or leave from complaining about things your employer should be doing. stop being bias.
Government is taking care of their employees Belonger and NON Belonger!!! Don’t get Jealous, Talk to your Employer about taking care of you…
Actually I love my work. I look forward to going work almost everyday for the past 6 years. Sure it can be stressful at times. But I find passion in my work. I’m not jealous at all hehe.
You are a psycho. who send call you?
I have a little nest egg saved up that will hold my 2 kids and I down for a couple of months. I made the choice to self quarantine myself and the kids at home. We have everything we need at home so we don’t have to leave the house. It feels so good to be away from everyone for a while.
@Rainy day funds, my teen daughter and I just finished getting the house together and stocking on what we need to start self Quarantine Tomorrow. I am looking forward to the alone time with my daughter, I am going to binge watch Power, The Brotherhood, America’s Next Top Model and RuPaul’s Drag race on HULU. I am looking forward to the space and not having to deal with anyone for a few.
can you give leave to people with higher risk to the viris who work in the hospital if things get bad. i dont want my mom getting sick trying to take care of sick people.
I guys I will be under water for two weeks daaaa