Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today announced that the county’s on-site workforce will be limited to 50% through March 31 in response to a call from Governor Andrew Cuomo to impose such limits as a way to further protect the health and safety of the public and government workers during the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  Non-essential employees will work from home during this period and will be on-call for a return to their county workspaces for the duration of this time. Some may also be designated to join the county’s COVID-19 response team as call takers or performing other, similar COVID-19 response tasks. All county employees must confirm their essential or non-essential status with their supervisor.

“Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday March 17, all non-essential Erie County employees will be working from home as we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows the recommendation of Governor Cuomo and is another step county government is taking to protect the health of our workers and the public at large,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz.  “I have directed Commissioners and department heads to review with their employees who is considered essential and who is not, and for all employees to act according to these directions. Employees working from home will continue to perform their assigned job tasks as much as possible, they will be paid, and they will remain on-call during this period for a potential return to their county workspaces. In this way we are diminishing the number of people coming into government offices, lessening the chances of spreading the virus and keeping people safer.”

Essential personnel are those whose job function is essential to the effective operation of their department or who must be physically present to perform their job. Any personnel involved in COVID-19 response are also considered essential. Non-essential personnel are employees who do not need to be physically present to perform their job or are not central to their department’s COVID-19 response.

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