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Jasmine Wells interviewing Brandi McKinney *Time may be a bit off on the script because of editing. Jasmine Wells00:58 - 01:06Hello, ACU Jasmine Wells here with our ACU podcast, joining us today is our VP of HR and compliance, Brandi McKinney.Jasmine Wells01:06 - 01:08Hey Brandi, welcome to the show.Jasmine Wells01:08 - 01:09It's good to have you.Speaker01:10 - 01:11I'm glad to be here.Jasmine Wells01:12 - 01:19So, Brandi, we're just gonna jump right in it so we can inform our team members and hopefully give them some peace of mind.Jasmine Wells01:19 - 01:29Especially right now, in our current situation, there's been a lot of questions surfacing about the first corona Virus Response Act, and I know this is a very broad question, but can you go into a little bit more detail about what this means for our team members, and what we can expect going forward.Speaker01:40 - 01:41Certainly, Jasmine.One of the things that we had to keep in mind is that when we have big laws that are passed like this, we typically have some time to get input and feedback on what that law is going to look like in the real world. And in this case, it happened within, you know, basically when didn't blink of an eye in comparison to what they're normally path. And so in this case, we know that there's some things that are still going to be left up in the air, that's normal.Speaker02:05 - 02:17We're going to have some questions about what this is going to play out for, for regular, how this is going to play out for regular employees, and what the things are that they need to be most concerned about. First of all, it does apply to Alabama credit union it applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees. And there are two major prongs of this, The first prong has to do with emergency paid sick leave, the bank of 80 hours of emergency paid.Speaker02:32 - 02:35Particularly if you are a part-time employee. That amount of time is prorated based on how much you would typically work over a week time span. Additionally, we will be paid out when the compliance deadline goes into effect, will be paid out with a new K code.Speaker02:47 - 02:49It will work in UlitPro, I contacted them, and they are working on this so that they can enroll at a global solution to all of their clients so that we're not scrambling and trying to make sure that it's set up correctly in regards to accessibility.Speaker03:03 - 03:25The part of the Emergency weeklies is dealing with one prong of that deals with people who have the thickness coronaviruses 19 people who are quarantined because they think that they may be safe for people who were seeking treatment, and those people would be able to be paid those 80 hours at full pay that capped at $511 per day.Speaker03:26 - 03:29If you make, and if you make more than that, you know, you don't, you don't get more than that.Jasmine Wells03:50 - 03:52Thank you for clarifying that.Speaker04:12 - 04:25The second part of the emergency sick leave applies to people who are taking care of somebody else who either has the virus or taking care of a child who is out of school or out of daycare, due to the daycare, school, clothing. And we can see this happening all over the country. And it's a really big moment because this is unprecedented. We've never really had any provisions for that in the past.Speaker04:33 - 04:42The other big part, the other major part, besides the emergency stick provision, is the expansion of the family and medical leave. And now, many of you know about the Family and Medical Leave Act, because it's something that has been in place since 19 93. We give annual training to our managers to make sure that they are applying this correctly for our team members. In the past, the what I'm going to refer to as the Old Family Medical Leave Act has always applied to employees with 12 or more months of experience. The, the new version, the new expansion, is significantly different, because it applies also to parents who are, who are taking care of a child or other people who are taking care of a child, because that child's daycare for school has been closed down.Speaker05:33 - 05:43Now that, it's also paid out to Thursday, under the new rules, only, anything applying under the old rule does not have an emergency pay provision.Jasmine Wells05:45 - 05:47Ok, thank you, Brandi.Jasmine Wells05:47 - 05:55I think that really clarifies some things around those 80 hours, some things that I'm hearing here in the office and I know that, you know, Congress. And just the world in general doesn't know when this virus is going to end, when all of this is going to end.Jasmine Wells06:02 - 06:06Is there a timeframe on when these 80 hours need to be taken?Speaker06:07 - 06:16Yes, as anytime before December 31st, and then, you know, nobody knows how long this situation is going to rock on. And I think that, you know, those of you who are in the position to work right now, we are critical service, and we know that there are some things going into place with different, different cities. Having shelter in place, most were critical services. People are allowed to go to work and things like that. And we are one of those, and it makes me proud to say that I'm a part of an organization that is holding strong, so that the members who need us have access to us.Speaker06:47 - 06:59But what we don't want to do is assume that you need to use these 80 hours immediately, then have nothing available for the rest of the time that you, that this situation continues. You know, we want to use it smartly and how that is how exactly that is going to look is not entirely clear yet. So we're all on a swimming in a little bit of a yucky gray area, you know?Speaker07:12 - 07:15We we often like things to be black and white. It fits our minds at ease. But in this case, we're not there yet. So, we have to be patient, as we research and dig in, and continue to see how this fluid situation continues to evolve.Jasmine Wells07:29 - 07:30Certainly, I couldn't agree more.Jasmine Wells07:40 - 07:43So the biggest question is, How come I can't work from home?Speaker07:45 - 07:52Well, one of the reasons is that sometimes there isn't work of the nature that people do that can be done from home. Another reason is that we only have a certain number of licenses, and we only have a certain amount of resources that can be provided towards that. One big reason is that, as we, as this situation, unwrapped and developed, keep in mind that all the managers here are human chase. And I've seen a lot of work on behalf of all of our team members and our managers over the past couple of weeks in ways that have stretched in, and ways that they have had to think and do things that they never had to work can do before.Speaker08:26 - 08:31You know, one of the things that we want to avoid is changing everything at once.If it's not the best move, know, a lot of managers have never managed an employee from home, right? So there's a learning curve there on the part of the managers, A lot of employees who have never worked from home and don't know what kind of, they don't know what it looks like, right? Now, I'm used to working at home at night, and on weekends sometimes if I have to catch up on something, and I know that in this situation, this time for me to get that work done, it's going up with my kids outside, Right? And, you know, I've had great kids. They're wonderful children that I'm a mom, just like everybody else, who has kids, and I know that they demand constant attention, and sometimes that does not make for the best as productive work environment.Speaker09:14 - 09:21On the flip side, there are critical things that we have to get done in terms of delivery to our team members, right? I know all of you can think of the things that if they're not done every day, the world of the credit union, as we know, doesn't turn out very well the next day, right? Yeah, for sure, if it weren't meant to be pompous, our members would have incorrect account balance information. If I didn't have access to them and to their money, all of you will be hearing about it on the phones. Are the people coming? You know, not in the lobby now, but certainly, drive ups. So, in order to maintain our processes, we want to be smart about where we're using that, those resources in that time.And we're putting that, because we're putting those resources, because we want to make sure that all of our bases are covered. Again, I can't. I can't stress enough. Nobody has a playbook for this and, and everybody's doing the best that I can going forward.But one reason that things were a little bit murky last week was, of course, we didn't know what our requirements were going to be before that law was found in law. Even now, you're still not sure. We're still not 100% clear on when that compliance deadline is going to extend J. There have been rumors, maybe tree maybe not, that some of this may have to be retroactive.Speaker10:35 - 10:48But until the Department of Labor issues specific guidance in issues, information to employers, we're really doing all we can to gather all the information, make the best decision possible right now.Jasmine Wells10:50 - 10:53Yeah, and that brings me to my next question.Jasmine Wells10:53 - 10:56I know that there's only so much that we can do to prepare.Jasmine Wells10:56 - 11:01I mean, nobody really prepares for a pandemic like this.Jasmine Wells11:01 - 11:06But how was How specifically, was the credit union prepare for this situation?Jasmine Wells11:06 - 11:10And what do you think that this situation will affect?Jasmine Wells11:11 - 11:14Do you think it will affect future workplace policies here at the credit union?Speaker11:16 - 11:22Know, that is a fantastic question, whoever thought that I can tell me to stick around for a long time. Because you know, the answer to that question is, I feel like we were better prepared that most of our peers say that, based on a couple of things. Number one, I've talked to a lot of my peers in HR who are reaching out, saying, help help, I've never had to deal with anything like this and we've never dealt with a pandemic. What we have dealt with is the situation. We had a couple of years ago in the main branch. Would our employee and with the robbery that went on at that time, what we also have dealt with is the tornadoes back in 2011. This is not something that is entirely new to us.We have dealt with disasters before. And each time we have learned from it, and we have come out on the other side stronger, we've always, we've always been able to take away the best pieces of bad situations.Speaker12:12 - 12:28And I think that's part of what makes you, No, we, you, you don't always have preparation for the things that life, hands you, but the way that you respond to them can help make you a better, stronger team member and human being. And I think that the best thing that we can carry away from them. Now, as far as it affecting future workplace policy, Time, will tell on that.You know, it's hard to It's hard to think sometimes that far into the future when you cut so much going on now, but as we can see from things that have happened in the past, there has always been some kind of impact. We just don't know what that is going to shake out to look like. That's a great question.Jasmine Wells12:53 - 12:54I couldn't agree more.Jasmine Wells12:56 - 12:57I think we're almost out of time, Brandi.But thank you so much for chatting with me.I think they've gotten a lot of questions answered and a lot of things clarified for our team members. But as team members have other questions, is there somebody that they can reach out to?Speaker13:10 - 13:13Sure, all of us in the HR department are still on board right now.You know, where we're working mostly from the office when it is necessitated, will work from home And I'm always available always on my phone on.You can give me a call my cell phone. If you need to or on the office, phone or you can e-mail me or any of the HR team or give them a call.Jasmine Wells13:37 - 13:37Well, thanks so much.Jasmine Wells13:37 - 13:41Is there anything else that you'd like to say to all of our team members out there?Speaker13:42 - 13:44Keep on doing what you're doing. Everyone that I've taught do from the community has noted that we are sending out information that we are making ourselves available to our members. They all appreciate that, and they all name you by name when they say that.So thank you for what you're doing and keep up the good work.Jasmine Wells14:01 - 14:04Well, thank you so much, Brandi, and that's all we have ACU.Thank you so much for listening to our ACU podcast, if you'd like this recording or if you'd like to submit ideas for future recordings. Please e-mail marketing at alabama, C U dot com, thanks, and keep growing, ACU. ................
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