Pierce County to provide vacation leave to employees for vaccinations

The following was sent via email on August 6 to all Pierce County employees.

As COVID-19 cases have rapidly increased in recent weeks, it is critical that we make every effort to minimize exposure to the virus – both for your health and to ensure we continue serving our residents.

The Delta variant is spreading in our community at an alarming rate and vaccines have proven to be safe and effective at lessening the impact for those who contract the virus.

It is anticipated the Pfizer vaccine will receive full authorization by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as early as Labor Day, and the Moderna vaccine has been submitted for final approval. This means with full approval from the FDA the vaccines would no longer be labelled for “emergency” use.

To encourage County employees to get vaccinated, Executive Dammeier has authorized that all fully vaccinated employees may receive an extra four hours of vacation leave. These hours provide time for individuals who haven’t been vaccinated to schedule time for an appointment while also helping to alleviate concerns about time off for any potential reaction to the vaccine.  In addition, the four hours acknowledges those who already took time to get the vaccine.

To qualify for this benefit, you must receive your COVID-19 vaccination(s) by October 15, 2021.  Those who are already fully vaccinated may also receive this benefit.

This benefit will be provided to employees who are eligible to accrue vacation time. In addition, Human Resources staff will be in contact with our labor partners to explain the benefit details.

Qualification for the benefit requires:

• Eligibility to accrue vacation time
• Visual proof of vaccination (via an online meeting where your vaccination card is displayed to your manager or in-person with vaccination card)
• Manager attests to vaccination in Workday
• Human Resources will credit everyone that has the Workday validation in place on October 15, 2021
• Employees may use the extra hours at any time that is mutually agreed upon with their manager