Our Brackett & Ellis colleague Jennifer Covington compiled the following helpful summary of the Department of Labor’s guidance to assist employers as they implement the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) which goes into effect on April 1, 2020 and expires December 31, 2020.
The FFCRA applies to employers of 499 or less. Employers of 50 or less may apply for exemptions relating to the child care leave (listed below) due to hardship.
Generally, the FFCRA requires covered employers to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave at an employee’s regular rate of pay if the employee is unable to work due to quarantine and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis.
The FFCRA also requires employers to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave at two-thirds of an employee’s regular rate of pay if the employee is unable to work because the employee must care for an individual subject to quarantine, or the employee must care for a child whose school or child care provider closed or is unavailable due to reasons related to COVID-19. For employees who have been employed for 30 days or more the FFCRA provides for an additional 10 weeks of this type of leave.
Employers are entitled to receive dollar-for-dollar payroll tax credits for extending these benefits.
Here’s some helpful links with more information:
- The requisite non-federal employer poster that should be included with your other workplace postings
- Fact Sheet for Employers
- Fact Sheet for Employees
- General Question and Answer