UNL 2009/2010 Flu Season Employee Attendance Policy

Message from Chancellor Perlman Regarding H1N1

Colleagues:

As you all know, we are facing a potential H1N1 flu epidemic of unknown proportions or severity beginning this fall. Universities are thought to be particularly vulnerable due to the concentration of students and faculty. Both the University of Nebraska and UNL have consulted with others and thought carefully about how we should prepare for this possibility. We have adopted policies that are available at http://emergency.unl.edu which I hope you will consult. These deal particularly with attendance policies, for faculty, staff and students. In light of this potential public health emergency, I hope you will comply with these policies. Individuals who display symptoms of the flu must not come to work or class. This includes students, and I am asking faculty to examine and adjust your class attendance policies if necessary. We will need to take somewhat more risk of abuse in order to limit the spread of flu. Thus, we should not require notes from physicians to justify absences or impose onerous restrictions that serve as an incentive for sick people to come to work or class.

We will monitor the situation and may need to alter other policies as we see what develops. I hope each of you will do what you can to minimize the spread of flu. Practice good hygiene, know the signs and symptoms of flu, and follow the policies in place. We will keep you updated with new information as it becomes available to us.

Harvey Perlman

More Info and Updates

Further updates regarding H1N1 will be posted at http://emergency.unl.edu/h1n1flu/