Covid-19 | americlad

7/24/2020 COVID-19 Update

Our COVID-19 Preparedness Plan has been revised to reflect the new mandatory indoor mask Executive Order in Minnesota. The revised plan is available for your review by clicking here.

6/26/2020 COVID-19 Update

A copy of our COVID-19 Preparedness Plan is available for your review by clicking here.

3/20/2020 - 11:00 AM COVID-19 Update

Two new types of leave will be available to employees beginning April 2, 2020:

Emergency Paid Sick Leave

Available beginning April 2, 2020
All employees regardless of hire date are eligible
Allows for up to 80 hours of paid leave (for full time employees) due to covered reasons
This leave is in addition to existing PTO
You do not need to use up your existing PTO before using the emergency paid sick leave
Eligible reasons are employees who are unable to work because:

You are subject to a governmental quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19
You have been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine because of COVID-19
You are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and are seeking a medical diagnosis
You are caring for an individual subject (or advised) to quarantine
You are caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed due to COVID-19 precautions

Emergency paid sick leave is capped at $511 per day ($5,110 total) for employees unable to work for reasons 1, 2, or 3 listed above. Employees unable to work for reasons 4 or 5 will receive up to 2/3 of their normal base pay up to a maximum benefit of $200 per day ($2,000 total)

Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EMFMLA)

Available beginning April 2, 2020
Eligible to use once you’ve been employed here for 30 days
Employees can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave if you’re unable to work due to caring your child (under age 18) because the child’s school or place of care has been closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak
The first two weeks of EMFLA leave are unpaid (you have the option to use existing PTO, if available)
After the two-week unpaid period, the next ten weeks of EMFLA leave are paid at 2/3 your normal base pay with a maximum benefit of $200 per day ($10,000 total).

We’re still waiting for additional details on the new programs. Specifically, we are unsure of if and how the two leave types can be combined by impacted employees. We believe the paid sick leave amounts will be subject to normal payroll deductions. Both programs are scheduled to expire December 31, 2020.

Again, these programs are available beginning April 2, 2020. Prior to that, our existing PTO program is available. As we announced in our memo last week, employees may borrow against their future PTO should they need to miss work due to COVID-19 related issues. We encourage everyone to stay home from work if they believe they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to the virus.

3/17/2020 - 3:00 PM COVID-19 Update

Employee Survey

Thank you to everyone for quickly completing the online survey about the impact of Minnesota schools being closed on your work availability. Supervisors will be following up with individual employees that indicated their work availability may be impacted.

Monthly Company Lunches Cancelled

In following with the CDC’s advice to limit the size of social gatherings, we are going to cancel our monthly company lunches. We’ll hopefully be able to resume them soon but do not have a date yet.

Cleaning Service

I spoke with our cleaning service and reviewed guidance from the CDC about commercial cleaning requirements related to COVID-19. Our cleaners will continue to be disinfecting common surfaces such as countertops and door knobs during their regular cleanings. I’ve also asked them to verify and test all bathroom soap dispensers to confirm they’re filled and functioning as regular hand washing is one of the top recommendations to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Temporary Employees

Beginning Thursday, we plan to suspend adding new temporary employees. We believe the number of temporary employees we have in place is sufficient for our workload and will help minimize the number of new people we introduce to our workplace environment.

Disinfecting Wipes

We’d like to be able to have some disinfecting wipes on hand for employees to be able to wipe down work spaces, common spaces, etc. Our normal commercial sources are out of stock. If any employees are at stores that have disinfecting wipes in stock, we’re willing to reimburse you for up to 3 cases of disinfecting wipes (Lysol wipes, Clorox wipes, etc.). Please bring the wipes and receipt to your supervisor, and we’ll get a reimbursement check issued. We’ll see how many wipes we can get between now and this Friday (March 20) to see if we need to continue this beyond that.

3/15/2020 - 7:00 PM COVID-19 Update

We're trying to understand the impact to our employees of Gov. Walz's announcement that Minnesota schools will be closed beginning Wednesday, March 18 at the latest. We've put together a brief survey at http://survey1.americlad.com/. We'd like all employees to complete the survey before noon Monday.

3/13/2020 - 11:00 AM COVID-19 Update

We’re not aware of any employees that have been infected with or exposed to someone infected with the virus. To reduce the risk of exposure to our employees, we are taking the following steps:

Until further notice, our facilities will be closed to visitors
- This will include customers, vendors, job applicants, and family members of employees
- We encourage employees to replace those meetings with virtual meetings (e.g., FaceTime, web meetings, conference calls, etc.)
- We will continue to offer limited access to truck lines and package delivery services to drop off and pickup
We will not be allowing will-call pickups of any orders
Employees should check with their supervisors for approval before attending any off-site meetings with customers or vendors
Depending on the progression of this pandemic, it may be necessary to limit additional temporary employees beginning work in our buildings

Our best way to minimize the virus’ impact on our company is to stay home if you are sick or believe you have been exposed to COVID-19. All employees are provided with paid time-off as soon as their employment begins. Due to the severity of COVID-19, we are going to allow employees to borrow against future PTO if they need to miss work for COVID-19 virus related exposure or infection.

We have also been informed that our health insurance carrier, Medica, is waiving all co-pays and deductibles for testing for COVID-19.

We'll keep updating this site (americlad.com/covid) as we have additional information.