It’s important that your business is in compliance with new laws governing payment to employees for leave taken due to COVID-19.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA ) requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19.
FFCRA applies to leave taken between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020 as follows:
- 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 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 care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19; and
- Up to an additional 10 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay where an employee, who has been employed for at least 30 calendar days, is unable to work due to a bona fide need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.
Your Business May Qualify for an Exemption:
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.
Businesses with fewer than 25 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave if the employee took leave to care for their own son or daughter whose school or place of care was closed, or whose child care provider was unavailable, and all certain other hardship conditions exist.
Please contact Patrick O’Connor at O’Connor law firm for a compliance review for your business: 800.655.0175.
