Marist Enacts COVID-19 Pay for Student Employees

Updated COVID-19 Timesheets for Marist student employees. Source: Makena Gera ‘21

Starting in the spring 2021 semester, Marist College has implemented paid sick leave and COVID-related pay for both student employees and traditional employees. 

Student employees either in quarantine with COVID-19 or in precautionary quarantine due to exposure are eligible to receive full pay for their missed work shifts. Students who cannot physically attend their on-campus work shifts due to college-implemented restrictions (i.e. precautionary campus pauses) are also eligible to receive full COVID-related, non-work pay. 

In accordance with new New York State legislation signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, this COVID-related and sick pay guidance was implemented on Jan. 1. The legislation guarantees paid sick leave for all employees in the state, making New York’s new paid sick leave law currently the most comprehensive in the country. 

This law requires paid leave be offered to employees of companies with over 100 employees who are either in mandatory or precautionary COVID isolation. Because Marist employs over 100 individuals, the college is mandated to provide paid sick leave and job security to employees. For student workers, this means that they will receive pay or shifts they cannot work through no fault of their own—whether that be a result of exposure to COVID-19 or college-implemented quarantines or campus pauses. 

The McCann Center, for example, is one of the largest employers of student workers on campus. However, it is currently closed as a result of Marist’s precautionary campus pause that began on March 17. 

“We have to take all of the precautionary measurements that the state requires,” Tenisha Lane, associate director of student employment at Student Financial Services said. “So at any time, when the pauses are happening or they are extended, the college’s executives are consulting with the New York State Department of Health and following their guidelines. But we are happy that students can now get paid.”  

For the duration of Marist’s precautionary campus pause—which extended almost a full month—students with on-campus jobs were not physically able to work in person. As offices and academic buildings, the McCann Center, and more were closed, a large portion of students could not work their regularly scheduled shifts. 

“Right away, students were saying that they needed the money or they count on the money to make ends meet,” Patricia Peabody, Marist’s payroll manager said. “We were very happy to be able to say ‘You can have it. You can be paid for this. That is because of legislation from New York state; it’s not the college’s doing. But, of course, the college supports it 100 percent.”

Regardless of COVID-19, student employees are also eligible to accrue paid sick time through Cuomo’s new legislation. For every 30 hours worked, employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for a maximum of 56 hours of leave per year. 

Neither this sick pay nor the COVID-related pay were available during the fall semester. Students who missed shifts due to quarantine or campus pauses were not compensated for their regularly scheduled hours.

Peabody notes that the legislation from the state is meant to provide employees with compensation for what they’re losing due to COVID—which is the ability to work. The Marist payroll office has received many questions from student workers and their supervisors who are unsure whether their situation qualifies for COVID-related pay or sick pay. But the general idea is that it applies to anyone whose work is impacted by COVID. 

“We tell everyone to use their best sense of judgment, and err on the side of the student and the employee,” Peabody said. “It’s not meant to take anything away from them, it’s meant to give them something.”

Marist Payroll Office is located in Donnelly Hall. Source: Greta Stuckey ‘23