Department guide to the influenza pandemic
- General instructions and links
- Staff
- Sick leave
- Temporary child-minding leave
- Arrangements in teaching: instructors
- Arrangements in teaching: part-time teachers
- Students
General instructions and links
The Department of Computer Science follows the general guidelines given by the University of Helsinki on the influenza pandemic, as regards hygiene and sick leaves etc.
There is an influenza-pandemic window on the front page of Alma, with all the recommendations and instructions given by the university. When greeting someone, for example, the university recommends you avoid shaking hands for now.
Staff
Sick leave for university employees during the pandemic
Normally, university employees may be off sick without a doctor's certificate for 1-3 days, as long as they let their immediate superior know (unless there are other arrangements in place), but from the fourth day, a certificate is necessary (but remember that sick leave from Friday to Monday comprises four sick days, so you need a certificate for Monday). In any absence, please let your immediate superior know as soon as possible after you have taken ill.
In the case of an influenza pandemic, the university will forego the four-day rule and certificates will not be necessary until the sixth sick day.
However, in order to clarify their diagnosis and get prescriptions for their care, people who fall ill should contact healthcare professionals (either their local healthcare centre or the occupational-health unit). After that, please let your immediate superior or their deputy know about your absence.
Temporary child-minding leave
If a child under 10 years of age or a disabled child, your own or living in your household permanently, falls ill suddenly, its parents have the right to temporary child-minding leave. You can have this kind of leave for arranging care for the child or for taking care of the child for a maximum of four workdays, of which three workdays are salaried. In the case of an influenza pandemic, if the child's daycare requires you to keep the child at home for longer, you can apply for unpaid leave of absence for the duration.
Arrangements in teaching
Instructors:Do not teach if you are ill. Let the teaching administration (opetus@cs.helsinki.fi) know immediately if you are ill, so that we can let the students know your class has been cancelled. If you wish, you can arrange to give compensatory lectures at a later date. Please inform active students about exceptions and special arrangements. You will find a list of the e-mail addresses of students who have registered for your course in the Kurki system.
If some course participants cannot complete some compulsory assignments because of illness, you can free them from the assignments (with no loss of points) or give them more time to complete them (if the assignment is very significant for the course goals). Inform your course assistants about any special arrangements so that they can inform the students when asked.
Students who have not been able to attend a course exam due to e.g. illness or other verifiable reasons may compensate by attending the following separate exam after the course has ended. In such cases, the points gained in the exam will be translated into the number of points in relation to the maximum points of the course exam. Thus, the course grades will either consist of the grade from the separate exam as such, or they will be based on the course exam system, depending on which calculation method will give the better grade.
Part-time teachers (course assistants):
Do not teach if you are ill. If you fall ill, please inform the teacher in charge of the course AND the teaching administration (opetus@cs.helsinki.fi) immediately. If you know about another course assistant who could take your classes, inform the above about that, too. The exercise sessions are a vital part of instruction, so we should try to avoid cancellations of classes due to illness as much as we can.
The fees of part-time teachers is based on teaching hours, but single absences due to illness will not lead to you losing your fee. Because of the way fees are calculated, part-time teachers cannot have paid sick leave.
Students
If you are sick, you shouldn't attend classes. If you cannot complete compulsory or bonus assignments on time, please contact the teacher in charge of the course (=the lecturer) and explain your situation. Some of the compulsory assignments can be postponed, or you can be exempted (and your points will be scaled so that it is possible for you to gain maximum points for the course anyway). Instead of a course exam, you can take a separate exam. Please inform the lecturer in connection with the exam, at the latest, so that they can consider your situation when they grade the course. The general rule is that you will not need to show a doctor's certificate. The teacher in charge of a course will give more detailed instructions about special arrangements, if necessary.
We hope to e-mail all students who have registered for a course if the lecturer falls ill. We are hoping to avoid cancelling any exercise sessions, but in case of sudden illness, we might have to. In some cases, compensatory teaching will be arranged at a later date.
The teaching administration team is doing its best to keep the classes going. However, we cannot guarantee the complete success of deputizing or information in sudden cases of illness.
Please be prepared for longer processing times than usual for module registration, credit transferrals, JOO study access, and work experience registration. If you have not had an answer to an e-mail request on the process of your case within a few days, please repeat your request.