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The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a revision to the county’s employee COVID-19 response plan to allow a bank of up to five days of sick time for vaccinated employees who have a breakthrough positive COVID test and are unable to work. 

Freeborn County Administrator Tom Jensen said since the expiration of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which required employers to provide sick leave and expanded family and medical leave tied to COVID-19, employees have had to use their PTO hours if they were exposed to another person who tested positive to COVID-19 and got sick themselves or had to quarantine. Under current guidelines, vaccinated employees who have been exposed can remain at work, with masking and monitoring for symptoms, while a non-vaccinated person who was exposed must isolate for seven days or until he or she tests negative.  

Jensen said in his background to the commissioners that because vaccinated people have a much less restrictive quarantine requirement and to promote all employees to get vaccinated, the administration proposed the five days of sick time in the case of a positive COVID test result. The goal is to ensure there is adequate staffing for the county to continue to offer all of its services. 

The bank of five days could only be used if the employee is too ill to work from home or if he or she has a position in which they are unable to work from home, including jail staff, patrol deputies, maintenance, custodial staff, highway laborers and maintenance staff. 

The board began discussing the issue at its last workshop, and Jensen said it was contentious, even amongst board members. 

“We realize this is a very contentious topic all the way around,” he said. 

Administration sent out an anonymous survey to county employees, and of the 230 employees responding — which is about two-thirds of the total staff — about 62% had been vaccinated.

The survey asked the employees if they would consider getting vaccinated if they were incentivized, and 30 people responded that they would. 

Fifth District Commissioner Ted Herman said adding the five days of sick time for vaccinated employees would still give people the choice of whether to be vaccinated before OSHA takes it a step further and requires people to either be vaccinated or be let go from their job. He said he doesn’t want anyone to lose their jobs, and this would give them time to think about it before that could become a reality. 

“I think this is a smart move on our part,” he said. 

First District Commissioner Brad Edwin said he didn’t think the county should be treating its employees differently according to the personal decisions they make. 

“I feel it’s an individual’s choice, along with guidance from his family and his doctor when it comes to something like this,” Edwin said. 

He also questioned whether religious and medical concerns and natural immunity would be taken into consideration and said he did not like that the change in the policy did not include how much the county would be willing to spend. He said taxpayers already provide good benefits to the county’s employees, including 12 paid holidays. 

County Human Resources Director Candace Pesch said the county would honor any type of medical or religious exemptions as long as proper protocols were met, including having a medical provider certifying a medical condition. 

Pesch said on the survey there were about 20 people claiming religious exemptions and 22 to 25 claiming medical exemptions. 

Third District Commissioner John Forman said he supported the change and said it could actually save the county money.

“As far as cost to the county, if we can get more people vaccinated and less people getting sick, we’ll have less usage of our sick program and of this program,” Forman said.

Looking at data, he said over 90% of people in hospital ICUs are unvaccinated and noted how expensive the procedures are that are being taken to treat these patients. 

“We’re not forcing anybody to take part in this program,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for them to protect themselves if they’ve had their shots — as far as their PTO is concerned.”

The measure passed on a 4-1 vote, with Edwin voting against.