[Michlib-l] Paying Staff During Mandatory Closure.

[John Sheridan]

Hello Eric,

At the West Branch District Library it was decided to pay our staff for their regularly scheduled hours.  We have a good staff and since we had set the budget to pay those hours we decided that our staff deserved our support during this time.

John Sheridan, Director


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From: Stephanie via Michlib-l<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 4:08 PM
To: Mary Harrison<mailto:mary at colomapubliclibrary.net>
Cc: michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Paying Staff During Mandatory Closure.

Hi Eric --

We, too, are paying all library staff (with the exception of our pages) their normally scheduled hours for the duration of the closure... which for us has currently been adjusted to a potential May 4th opening.  I haven't had any Board members (thankfully) who have indicated they want to consider layoffs.    If we did decide to do that, we have a Union, so we would follow lay-off procedures as outlined there.    The case I made to my Board president, when we briefly spoke about this issue, was that a) these are trained staff... we will need them in full force when we do get to reopen , b) our staff (who have the tech capability) have voluntarily staffed virtual reference shifts via a Google number we linked to a library gmail account, are attending online trainings and webinars that pertain to their jobs, and some even have repair items and supplies that they took home to work on, c) we don't need to add to the already waaaaaaay overwhelmed unemployment situation, d) our budgets are fairly static.... so continuing to pay them through this shouldn't be a hardship, and last but far from least e) our staff didn't need to be worrying about continuing to get paid on top of being already stressed out about everything else.

Anyway, those are our justifications.... for now at least.

Stephanie Masin
Director
Maud Preston Palenske Memorial Library


On Mon, Apr 6, 2020 at 1:44 PM Mary Harrison via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:
Hi Eric,

The Coloma Public Library is paying all library staff their normally scheduled hours for the duration of the closure, however long it turns out to be.  I am hoping to explore if public libraries can be included in the program for “Employee Retention Credit for Employers Subject to Closure Due to COVID-19 Crisis<https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/employee-retention-credit-for-employers-subject-to-closure-due-to-covid-19-crisis>” as an offset--though even if we aren’t, it doesn’t change our plan to pay staff.

HTH, Mary

Mary Jean Harrison
Director
Coloma Public Library
151 W. Center Street
Coloma Michigan  49083
269-468-3431
www.colomapubliclibrary.net<http://www.colomapubliclibrary.net>

The most important asset of any library goes home at night – the library staff.
Timothy Healy

From: michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org> <michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org>> On Behalf Of ehansen--- via Michlib-l
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 1:23 PM
To: michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: [Michlib-l] Paying Staff During Mandatory Closure.

Hello,
I am collecting Information about how many libraries are continuing to pay staff during the Governor's mandatory closure. This has been an issue of conversation in my particular co-op and I am curious how it is handled state-wide. If you are willing then please reply off list to the following questions:

  1.  Are you continuing to pay staff during the period they are not working within the library building?
  2.  Have you found it necessary to make a distinction between paying staff who would not ordinarily telecommute (for instance, clerks and pages) and staff who are able to telecommute?
  3.  If the mandatory closing is extended to the end of April or beyond, how will (or *will*) that information impact your library's decision to continue paying staff not present within the building?
Eric Hansen
Director
Vicksburg District Library <http://www.vicksburglibrary.org/>
EHansen at VicksburgLibrary.org<mailto:EHansen at VicksburgLibrary.org>
269-649-1648
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