Families First Coronavirus Response Act – Employee Paid Leave Rights (“FFCRA”)

The following information comes from the U.S. Department of Labor. The FFCRA applies to all employers with less than 500 employees, now including those employers with less than 50 employees. The FFCRA requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 and is effective from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.  The highlights are as follows:

·       An employee is entitled to two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to federal, state or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis, or

Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay because the employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine, or to a care for a child (under 18 years of age) whose school or child provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and

·       An employee is entitled to up to an additional 10 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee, who has been employed for at least 30 calendar days, is unable to work due to a bona fide need to leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.

·       Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for an exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or childcare unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.

See the following link for questions and answers pertaining to this law from the Department of Labor:  https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-questions