On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” (the Act). This Act is a broad response to many of the challenges caused by the current and impending spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Families First Coronavirus Response Act has eight provisions intended to assist people during the public health emergency caused by COVID-19 and to allocate federal funds intended to provide such assistance. This GT Alert addresses two of the eight provisions of the Act that require certain private employers to provide paid leave to employees who cannot work because of coronavirus and/or the public health emergency surrounding it. Specifically, this Alert will address the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (Division E) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (Division C). This Alert supersedes our previous Alerts reporting on the versions of H.R. 2601 which led to the Act.
In combination, the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act may require certain private employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide up to 14 total weeks of leave, 12 weeks of which must be paid leave. Such paid leave is required for employees whose absences from work become necessary due to COVID-19 and its consequences. All new requirements on private employers will take effect 15 days after “final enactment” of the Act (presumably April 2, 2020) and continue through Dec. 31, 2020.
Read the full GT Alert: “Employment Law Provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.”