King County is a community of public servants. We care about the people we serve and the people we serve with. The COVID-19 outbreak, and the measures in place to stop its spread, may extend for months. Some employees will be impacted more than others and will exhaust their paid leave while recovering their health or caring for others.

If you have been looking for an opportunity to support your fellow employees affected by COVID-19, the Emergency Leave Donation Fund is your chance. We are looking for your donations to help get us started!

You can help now by donating your own accrued sick and vacation leave to the Emergency Leave Donation Fund. Every donation of leave matters and will help a King County employee in need who has already, or is about to, exhaust their own accrued leaves due to COVID -19. This is an especially great option if you are an employee who often ends up in a “use-it-or-lose-it” position with your vacation balance at the end of the year. This new program is available to Executive Branch employees (definition below) who are eligible for comprehensive leave benefits as well as employees in King County District Court and the King County Council.

How the Emergency Leave Donation Fund works:

• Donating Leave: Employees can donate up to 80 hours of accrued sick leave and 80 hours of accrued vacation (or BTO time) per calendar year using the Emergency Leave Donation Form. Donations of more than 80 hours from either of your leave accrual banks will need your department director’s approval. However, you must maintain a balance of 100 sick leave hours after the donation is made.
• Requesting Donations: Employees who need leave due to a COVID-19 related absence can request paid leave using the Emergency Leave Request Form. Eligible employees may receive two weeks of donated emergency leave per calendar year if funds are available.
• Completed forms can be sent to:
  • Email: EmergencyDonation@kingcounty.gov
  • US Postal: King County, 401 Fifth Ave, Suite 230, Seattle WA 98104
  • Interoffice Mail: CNK-ES-0230

To learn more about the program, including who is eligible, please click here. You can also use this Emergency Leave Donation Job Aid and short video to help with PeopleSoft entries.

Only by working together and supporting each other will we be able to overcome these extraordinary times.

The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members. —Coretta Scott King

Executive Branch departments: Department of Assessments, Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, Department of Executive Services, Department of Community and Human Services, Department of Human Resources, Department of Judicial Administration, Department of Local Services, Department of Metro Transit, Department of Natural Resources and Park, Department of Public Defense, Department of Public Health, Executive Department, King County Elections, King County Information Technology (KCIT), King County Sheriff’s Office (The King County Sheriff’s Office is administered by the King County Sheriff).

Other branches of County government: District Court, King County Council, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Superior Court.

As King County responds to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and works to slow its spread, there is an urgent need to fill emergency related roles within the county. This is a rapidly evolving event in which staffing needs and work demands are continuously changing. As we strive to keep our workforce, workplace, and community safe, we are providing employees, who have capacity, with opportunities for temporary work redeployment to assist in our COVID-19 response.

Employee safety and well-being is a priority, and employees will be provided training and support to help them succeed in these temporary redeployments.

These positions may not be suited for employees in the following high-risk categories:

• Employees 60 years and older
• Employees with underlying health conditions including heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes
• Employees with weakened immune systems
• Employees who are currently pregnant

Types of deployments available:

Redeployment opportunities with more detailed information will be posted on the Emergency Deployment website. The goal is to place as many employees as possible in these positions. The most urgent needs for emergency staffing include:

Emergency Site Worker I

• Clean, stock and sanitize rooms including tables, chairs, toilets, showers, sinks and walls.
• Make beds with clean supplies.
• Request and stock various types of supplies, mix and use cleaning solutions and chemicals.
• Set up and arrange furniture.
• Sweep and clean facility perimeter.

Emergency Site Worker II

• Monitor facility activity and share issues with supervisor.
• Provide food/water for people who cannot get out of bed.
• Notify medical staff if there is an emergency.
• Collect and record measurements/vital signs such as body temperatures.

Emergency Site Worker III

• Organize, oversee, establish and maintain data sources that may include contracts, budgets, payroll, legal documents and/or other records.
• Research and summarize specialized or technical information from varied sources.
• Compose, draft, summarize, prepare, proofread and/or edit documents.
• Schedule meetings and maintain calendars for supervisor and/or organizational unit/program.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Emergency Site Worker IV

• Plan, organize, schedule and coordinate work activities
• Provide guidance and technical assistance to staff
• Monitor budget expenditures and authorize purchases
• Recommend changes to procedures and guidelines affecting the facility

The full list of deployments will be updated on the Emergency Deployment website.

Pay during the deployment:

Employees will continue to be paid at their current rate of pay, and employees will not receive a reduction in pay for the emergency redeployment. Employees with a base pay rate of less than step 1 of the posted position will be paid at step 1 or 5% over their base pay rate, whichever is greater. Employees with a base pay rate greater than step 1 of the posted position will keep their current base pay rate.  FLSA-employees that are placed in non-exempt (hourly) deployments of one week (or when non-exempt duties are the majority of hours in the workweek)  or longer will be paid on an hourly basis during the deployment; Such employees will receive their base hourly rate of pay and will be eligible for overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

Employees who are represented by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), will continue to be represented by their respective CBA during the temporary deployment.

How to apply:

If you are an employee who is interested in assisting with one of these roles and believe you have capacity to help, please follow these instructions:

1. Obtain approval from your supervisor to volunteer for this redeployment
2. Understand emergency deployments are for a minimum of one week in duration and may be at a location that is a COVID response site, and
3. Once approved, please fill out the Employee Questionnaire (hyperlink to the document) and email it to EmergencyStaffing@kingcounty.gov. Please Cc your supervisor on the email.

Requesting employees for emergency deployment

King County departments requesting employees for emergency deployment should either enter a request into WebEOC, or email the request to RCECC.Logs@kingcounty.gov, and include the Emergency Deployment request form.

For many students in King County, this time of year heralds spring break, a much-anticipated week away from school. The coronavirus outbreak has caused many families to cancel plans for break, leaving them in search of creative ways to keep their kids entertained while practicing social distancing. Visit the Balanced You blog to learn more about activities you can do as a family, both during and after spring break, that promote well-being while observing guidelines for staying healthy. 

Crossposted from Balanced You 

The evolving coronavirus outbreak in our community has been difficult for everyone to process. Each of us is experiencing some degree of anxiety or stress in the face of this pandemic. Children process stress differently than adults and are uniquely affected by the way we talk about the virus, images in the media, and changes to their routine following school closures and other ‘social distancing’ measures. 

Balanced You is here to support King County employees who are parents and caretakers of children. Below, you will find resources and tips for helping children through this period. 

Read more from Balanced You

Effective March 23, Governor Jay Inslee issued a “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, which included a list of essential services that can and should continue operating. 

At King County, employees who are designated as First Responders and Mission-Critical Employees are classified as “critical government workers” for the purposes of the Governor’s Order, and accordingly are expected to continue to report to work in person or telework per existing arrangements. 

Please be advised that your King County identification badge serves as proof that you are an “essential employee.” If you are asked to provide proof of your status while performing your County duties, please present your King County ID badge, unless your department or division has provided you with an additional form of proof.  

You can learn more about the Governor’s Order and the designation of King County employees in this previous guidance. 

As we continue our efforts to slow the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in King County, we have put together several resources for King County employees during this outbreak. Our new one-stop webpage, www.kingcounty.gov/employees-coronavirus has health information, telecommuting resources, benefits updates, frequently asked questions, and more. This webpage can help to answer questions for King County employees about how their work is impacted by the coronavirus.