XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) announced that it will be providing an additional two weeks of paid sick leave in response to the COVID-19 outbreak as many of the company’s drivers and operations personnel remain on the front lines moving freight.
In a March 24 statement posted on the company’s blog, XPO announced that the “Pandemic Paid Sick Leave” policy would provide employees up to two weeks – 10 days or 80 hours – of “additional 100%-paid sick leave.” The policy change is retroactive to March 1 and will remain in effect until May 15.
The expanded paid time off (PTO) includes: employees being tested for COVID-19 or awaiting results; under mandatory quarantine (due to direct exposure or local ordinances); employees sharing a household with someone that is awaiting test results; or employees under self-quarantine after travelling from outbreak hotspots as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the last 14 days.
“We’re grateful for everything our employees are doing in these extraordinary times. We’re listening to their feedback and adjusting our policies and programs to support them and their families. Today, we’re making changes to care for our workforce as this pandemic evolves, including new additions to our benefits program for U.S. employees.”
The blog post stated that employees outside of the U.S. “will continue to follow local regulations and company sick leave policies.”
The enhanced PTO policy includes up to three days of paid leave for employees that work in facilities forced to close for cleaning after exposure to the virus.
In recent days, other transportation companies have increased benefits available to employees in response to the outbreak. On March 23, J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) announced that it would pay a one-time $500 bonus to drivers and operations support personnel. On March 20, Landstar System Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR) said that it would pay its business capacity owners (BCOs) $1,000 per week for up to two weeks who were diagnosed with the virus or required to quarantine.