{"id":1367,"date":"2020-03-20T15:28:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T15:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/covid-19-paid-sick-leave-act-explained\/"},"modified":"2022-11-22T15:42:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T15:42:29","slug":"covid-19-paid-sick-leave-act-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/covid-19-paid-sick-leave-act-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Paid Sick Leave Act Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221109010832\/https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/116th-congress\/house-bill\/6201\/text\">Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, H.R. 6201<\/a> (the \u201cAct\u201d). This update explains key aspects of the Act that provide for paid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and paid sick leave. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act (\u201cFMLA\u201d) <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Employers Covered<\/strong>: The Act provides employees of employers&nbsp;<em>with\nfewer than 500 employees&nbsp;<\/em>with the right to take up to <strong><em>12 weeks <\/em><\/strong>of\njob-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (\u201cFMLA\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How much leave is Paid<\/strong>?&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong><em>10\nof the 12 weeks<\/em><\/strong> are paid at a rate of no less than two-thirds of the\nemployee\u2019s usual rate of pay.&nbsp; (FMLA leave for all other purposes remains\nunpaid.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Eligibility<\/strong>:&nbsp; To be\neligible for paid leave, employees must have been on the employer\u2019s payroll for\nonly <strong><em>30 days<\/em><\/strong> prior to the requested leave and may use emergency\nFMLA leave for <strong><em>ONLY<\/em><\/strong> the following reason:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>To allow an employee,\nwho is unable to work or telework, to care for the employee\u2019s child (under 18\nyears of age) if the child\u2019s school or place of care is closed or the childcare\nprovider is unavailable due to a public health emergency.&nbsp; <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Note:&nbsp; Prior\nproposed drafts included other qualifying reasons such as to care for a family\nmember who is adhering to a requirement or recommendation to quarantine due to\nexposure to or symptoms of coronavirus.&nbsp;\nThese are not included in the Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Employee Flexibility<\/strong>: The first <strong><em>10 days<\/em><\/strong> of leave may\nbe unpaid.&nbsp; The <strong><em>employee<\/em><\/strong>\nmay choose to substitute accrued paid time off or other medical or sick leave\nduring this period, but an employer cannot require an employee to do so.&nbsp;\nAfter the first two weeks of unpaid leave, employers must continue&nbsp;paid&nbsp;FMLA\nleave at a rate of no less than <strong><em>two-thirds of the employee\u2019s usual rate\nof pay<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reinstatement Rights:<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp; Leave under the Act is job-protected.&nbsp; Employers must return the employee to the same or equivalent position upon their return to work.&nbsp; <strong><em>There is an exception for small employers with less than 25 employees: <\/em><\/strong>if the employee\u2019s job no longer exists due to COVID-19, the employer is only required to make reasonable efforts to restore the employee to an equivalent position over a one-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Coverage Exceptions<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 The Act grants the Secretary of Labor the authority to issue regulations exempting: (1) certain health care providers and emergency responders from taking leave under the bill; and (2) small business with <strong><em>fewer than 50 employees<\/em><\/strong> from the requirements of the bill if it would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expiration<\/strong>:&nbsp; This aspect of the Act becomes effective <strong><em>April 2, 2020<\/em><\/strong> and expire on <strong><em>December 31, 2020<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. <strong>Emergency Paid Sick Leave&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Employers Covered<\/strong>:&nbsp; Employers&nbsp;with<strong>\n<em>fewer than 500 employees<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;will be required to provide full-time\nemployees with <strong><em>2 weeks (80 hours)<\/em><\/strong> of paid sick leave for the\nfollowing reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(1) The employee is subject to a Federal, State,\nor local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID\u201319.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(2) The employee has\nbeen advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns\nrelated to COVID\u201319.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(3) The employee is\nexperiencing symptoms of COVID\u201319 and seeking a medical diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(4) The employee is\ncaring for an individual who is subject to a federal, state or local quarantine\nor isolation order or advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due\nto COVID-19; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(5) The employee is\ncaring for a son or daughter if the school or place of care of the child has\nbeen closed, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable,\ndue to COVID\u201319 precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(6) The employee is\nexperiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the\nSecretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of\nthe Treasury and the Secretary of Labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Employees Covered<\/strong>:&nbsp; Both\nfull-time and part-time employees are eligible for paid leave.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full time employees will receive paid leave at\ntheir full regular rate of pay for reasons 1, 2, and 3, above, and 2\/3 of their\nregular rate of pay for reasons 4 and 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For part-time employees or those with irregular\nhours, emergency paid sick leave will be calculated based on the number of\nhours the employee works on average over a 2-week period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sick leave payments to employees who have worked\n<strong><em>less than 6 months<\/em><\/strong> shall be calculated based on the average\nnumber of hours that the employee would regularly be scheduled to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paid sick provisions state that unused paid sick leave\ndoes not carry over from one year to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Capped Payments:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The Act places a cap of <strong><em>$511 per day ($5,110 total)<\/em><\/strong> per employee who take leave for reasons (1), (2) and (3) above (own use) and <strong><em>$200 per day ( $2,000 total)<\/em><\/strong> for reasons (4), (5), and (6) (caring for others).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <strong>Coverage Exceptions<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 The Act grants the Secretary of Labor the authority to issue regulations exempting: (1) certain health care providers and emergency responders from taking leave under the bill; and (2) small business with <strong><em>fewer than 50 employees<\/em><\/strong> from the requirements of the bill if it would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tax Credits<\/strong>:&nbsp;\nEmployers who are required to provide paid leave under Emergency FMLA\nand Emergency Paid Sick Leave are eligible to receive refundable tax\ncredits.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expiration<\/strong>: This aspect of the Act become <strong><em>effective April 2, 2020<\/em><\/strong>\nand expire on <strong><em>December 31, 2020<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, please <a href=\"mailto:kwinkler@bfvlaw.com\">let me know<\/a> if I can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, H.R. 6201 (the \u201cAct\u201d). This update explains key aspects of the Act that provide for paid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and paid sick leave. Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act (\u201cFMLA\u201d) Employers Covered: The Act provides employees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>COVID-19: Paid Sick Leave Act Explained | Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This update explains key aspects of the Act that provide for paid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and paid sick leave.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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