In order to support employees who may be out with illness or other issues related to COVID-19, there is a new federal law effective April 1, 2020 that will require businesses to pay 80 hours of extra sick time, and an additional 10 weeks in certain circumstances. Here’s what you need to know and how to prepare. If you prefer to get your information in video format, you can join us on April 1, 2020 at 1:00pm pacific for a live webinar to help you understand and implement this program. You can register here for the live event or to view the recording. Families First Coronavirus Response Act at a GlanceThis new law is called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA was signed into law by President Trump on March 18, 2020 in order to address the financial burden that many Americans are facing due to Covid-19. The first thing to note is that this law was written over a period of about one week. For that reason, there’s not a lot of clarification, and there are A LOT of unknowns as to how to interpret it. The Department of Labor has come out with a few clarifications as of this writing on March 27, 2020, but there are still questions. We are expecting more clarification this week and next, and we will update the post as we know more. My goals today are:
THE GENERAL DETAILS Why: The goal of this new law is to provide paid sick leave to employees who need it for Covid-19-related reasons. Who: This affects all employers in the United States who have fewer than 500 employees. There are some exceptions for businesses under 50 employees, but I will get into that more later. When: This will go into effect on April 1, 2020. What: There are three pieces of the FFCRA that are immediately relevant to employers:
THE SPECIFICS That’s a lot of information to digest. Put more simply, there are two paid leave programs, both of which you (the employer) will pay to the employee, and which will be immediately (or quickly) reimbursed to you by the IRS. You can think of the paid leave programs chronologically: The first thing an employee would qualify for is Emergency Paid Sick Leave. The employee will qualify for this for the first two weeks they are out on leave. It pays up to 80 hours and must be paid for the amount of time they would normally work in a week. For example, if they are always scheduled for 30 hours per week, you would pay them up to 60 hours, total. Emergency Paid Sick Leave – Qualifying Reasons Qualifying reasons for this paid sick leave include:
Once an employee has reached the end of their qualification for Emergency Paid Sick Leave, they may be eligible for Emergency FMLA. Again, the one-and-only reason that would qualify someone for this paid leave and that is if they are unable to work (or telework) because the employee is caring for their child (18 years or younger) because the school is closed or the childcare provider is unavailable due to a public health emergency. An employee is eligible for this leave for 12 weeks total, but you do not start paying them for the leave until after 10 days. With these two types of leave taken in chronological order, Emergency Paid Sick Leave and then Emergency FMLA, an employee could receive a total of 12 weeks of paid leave. Employers under 50 As you may know, FMLA generally does not apply to employers with under 50 employees. If you are a small employer with under 50 employees, you will remain exempt from the normal FMLA regulations. This Emergency FMLA is the only piece of FMLA you will need to carry out. According to guidance posted by the Department of Labor on March 25, 2020, “Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.” We don’t yet have clarification from the Department of Labor on how a business would go about applying for this exemption but will update you here when they publish instructions. How to Calculate PaymentsThe Department of Labor has very clear instructions on how much you should pay your employees. I won’t go too deeply into that here, as it is not the intent of this article. Please visit the Department of Labor FFCRA Q&A (questions number five and six) for more information on how to calculate wages. Note that although you may pay an employee as much as you want, there is a maximum that is eligible for reimbursement, which is explained in detail by the department of labor here, under the “Calculation of Pay” section. PostersBeginning April 1, 2020, employers are required to post this new notice where your employees can see it. If your employees are working remotely, you are allowed to send it via email, mail, or post it to a company intranet where they can see it. If you need more guidance on how to post the notice, you can find it here. Questions? Let us know in the comments section how you are doing with these, and other changes you’ve been facing over the past few weeks. If you would like help implementing this, or you have other questions, please contact us via the contact form on this website. We look forward to hearing from you either way!
You can also join us for a live webinar on April 1, 2020 to help you understand and implement this program. You can register here for the live event or to view the recording. This article is meant for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal advice. Only your attorney can give you legal advice.
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AuthorCortney Stehlik-Freeman works with leaders to break through the profit ceiling by turning human resources from a cost center to a profit center. Archives
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