2021-09-15 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board September 15, 2021 So, a lot of what we've implemented had to be implemented closely with the guidance of Corporation Counsel and our Mayor's Office and through those partnerships we were able to put something together to be effective August 16''. We have been dealing with a lot of questions from our employeesa lot concerns that we've been trying to address on a case-by-case basis. As I this situation touches upon a lot of sensitive things, personally, with our employees and we have to recognize that. However, our job in DHR is to implement the Governor's Emergency Proclamation and that has been the consensus of all the directors statewide. We've decided to take the position of moving forward together so that we can address any potential litigation issues that may arise as a result of this emergency proclamation. But the foundation of implementing our County policies and procedures is to ensure the health and safety of all of our County employees, and all of our policies and procedures put in place thus far that is the focus. And we, like I said, we work closely with Corp. Counsel for legal guidance every step of the way. So, we curI mentioned earlier that COVID-19 has been taking up most of my days since this implementation as well as DeeAnn—she is one of my managers in Administrative Services. She's my senior manager. So, COVID-19 this situation with the vaccination and testing has been taking up our entire day, pretty much, since the announcement by the Governor on August 5'h—and I know J can attest to that because he gets a bunch of emails from me. But it's a moving target. I do want to let this body know it's a moving target every day, every hour something changes. But we are doing our best to address all the scenarios that come at us. But in this situation, DHR is the guidance for everyone. And so, I'm very fortunate to have a team that pulled together at the last minute. I can tell you we worked day and night, weekends—continuously to try and meet every single demand as a result of this emergency proclamation. And I know all of you keeping in the loop with the news going onI know that you are all aware of all these changes almost weekly, that we have to respond quickly to communicate to our employees. So, it's a balancing act but I think we're doing a great job. I need to recognize my team. Every single one of them has stepped up. And so, I couldn't do it without them. But that's, basically, where we're at. And I'm happy to take any specific questions that you might have with regard to what we've had to implement so far. MR. KUNZ: Mr. Leopoldino, have you this is Mr. Kunz. Have you also run into abuses ofI mean, `cause you are sharing with us how your office implementing the proclamation and working with staff in the department. Have you needed to address abuse of the proclamation as well? MR. LEOPOLDINO: With regard to abuse, we're—related to COVID but not to this emergency proclamation. We also have an exposureCOVID-19 exposure memo issueda policy with Page 17