Because vacation leave may only be requested by employees (and may not be required by the employer), employees may be entitled to request vacation leave for additional days absent from work after exhausting any applicable leave time under the FFCRA, their accrued sick leave, and the new emergency sick leave. Use of this leave time may not be considered adversely in the employee’s performance appraisals.
For additional information, please review our previous alert Coronavirus: New emergency leaves take effect in Puerto Rico.
If you have any questions regarding these new requirements and their implications, please contact the authors, any member of the DLA Piper Employment group, or your DLA Piper relationship attorney.