Governor: Non-essential employees should stay home

03/16/2020 

The following message was sent on behalf of SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum:

To the SUNY Cortland community,

Governor Andrew Cuomo Monday directed all New York state employees designated as non-essential to work from home starting Tuesday, March 17. We are still working through the details of what this means for SUNY Cortland, and appreciate your cooperation and patience as we adapt operations to protect our faculty, staff and students from COVID-19.

This is our plan for tomorrow, March 17: All personnel identified as essential by our Essential Personnel Policy, as well as  each non-academic department manager or supervisor, should report to work.

It will be the supervisors’ and managers’ roles to finalize their business continuity plans, identify essential staffing needs over the next couple of weeks, and contact each employee in their respective area to determine an appropriate work plan to be performed at home. As soon as these activities are completed, supervisors and managers not otherwise defined as essential should begin to do assigned work from home. 

Essential employees are defined as those whose job function is essential to the effective operation of their agency or authority. The term also applies to employees who must be physically present to perform their job, and those who are involved in the COVID-19 emergency response.

Non-essential employees are defined as those who do not need to be physically present to perform their jobs. The term also applies to employees who are not required to meet the core function and programs of their agency during this emergency response.

At this time, non-essential employees shall work from home, to the extent they are able. Employees will not be charged their accruals to fulfill this directive.  

As the operational needs of the response shifts, specific job functions or work locations may be modified accordingly. Agencies and authorities may change an employee’s designation from either essential or non-essential at any time.

Supervisors should notify their employees of their status (essential vs. non-essential) as soon as possible.

More information about this policy, as well as necessary forms, will be provided Tuesday.

Stay safe, and thank you for your continued cooperation.

All the best,

Erik J. Bitterbaum