COLUMBIA, Md.–As the coronavirus pandemic continues to present unprecedented challenges, more than 200 credit union executives participate in a virtual town hall hosted by the MD|DC Credit Union Association and the Suburban Chapter and which was kicked off by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
“Working together we convened the virtual town hall to help credit unions develop solutions and to provide a sense of community as they navigate uncertainty in the rapidly changing pandemic response,” said MDDCCUA President and CEO John Bratsakis.
On the same day the Senate was voting on the largest bill in U.S. history, Van Hollen offered an update from Capitol Hill and offered assurances the $2-trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act, S.3548) includes key provisions giving credit unions parity with banks.
Van Hollen said the bill also delays compliance with CECL accounting standards through the end of the year or the end of the crisis, grants the NCUA temporary authority to guarantee business accounts, and provides temporary relief from troubled debt restructurings.
Regulatory Update
Meanwhile, NCUA Eastern Region Regional Director John Kutchey said the agency is giving credit unions significant latitude to determine how to help members through assistance programs that may include waiving fees, eliminating interest and deferring payments, according to the MDDCCUA. Kutchey pointed town hall participants to the recently released interagency guidance stating that short-term loan modifications, made in response to COVID-19 for members who were in good standing prior to the pandemic, will not be classified as troubled debt restructuring.
Kutchey added NCUA examiners will be working off site through at least mid-April, with virtual examinations kicking off soon.
HR & Workplace Guidance
The virtual town hall also featured attorney John Bredehoft of Kaufman & Canoles, who has been working with credit unions to provide guidance on increasingly complex human resources issues, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which was signed into law last week and which takes effect next week. The law has two employment-related provisions, noted Bredehoft:
- The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, which guarantees up to two weeks of paid sick leave for certain U.S. workers affected by COVID-19.
- The Family and Medical Leave Act, which permits 12 weeks of leave to care for a minor child whose school or daycare is unavailable due to a health emergency. For more in-depth details click here.
According to the MDDCCUA, while Bredehoft has been responding to a variety of questions about what employers can and cannot say to employees, he said the guiding principle for credit unions is compliance with OSHA’s General Duty Clause Guidance on COVID-19, which states, “Prompt identification and isolation of potentially infectious individuals is a critical step in protecting workers, customers, visitors, and others at a worksite.”
In short, what that means, Bredehoft said, is employers are allowed to take an employee’s temperature, send a sick employee home or ask returning travelers to stay home—but employers should not ask an employee about underlying health conditions.
Risk Management
Finally, the MDDCCUA said that with so many employees transitioning to working remotely in the past week, CUNA Mutual Group shared best practices on managing risk while maintaining workflow and productivity.
Among the recommendations: identify minimum standards of security to ensure member and credit union information is secure; avoid Fair Labor Standards Act violations by monitoring and tracking employee hours worked, particularly non-exempt and hourly workers; and provide clear and consistent communication to ensure employees can and do stay on task remotely.
CUNA Mutual Group's coronavirus resource page can be viewed here.