An amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act, there are two parts to the FFCRA – the Public Health Emergency Leave Act and the Sick Leave Act, and their provisions and coverage are different.
Public Health Emergency Leave Provisions
- Public Health Emergency Leave applies to ALL employers with fewer than 500 employees. There is no 50-employee minimum.
- The Sec. of Labor has the power to exempt employers with under 50 employees for the express purpose that they would be in danger of closing, but this hasn’t happened, yet.
- 30 days of employment is the coverage threshold – a huge expansion from the FMLA’s 1250 hours and 12 months of employment.
- The Public Health Emergency Leave applies ONLY to those who must care for minor children whose elementary or secondary school or place of care has been closed, or if the child’s regular paid care provider is unavailable, because of an emergency declared by a federal, state, or local authority with respect to the coronavirus. It does not cover employee self-quarantining or caring for a non-minor family member.
- There is no additional time provided for leave in this Act, but it does provide for paid sick leave AFTER ten days of sick leave have been taken. Maryland may choose to do something more generous, so monitoring state action is advised.
- Job protection requirements are the same as FMLA.
- After the first ten days of sick leave, employees must be paid at a at least 2/3 of their regular pay up to a maximum of $200/day and $10,000 in the aggregate. Those with variable work schedules have a different calculation. See the more detailed guidance.
- There will be a payroll tax credit for covered employers for this.
Sick Leave Provisions
- Paid sick leave must be immediately available to all employees, irrespective of how long they’ve been employed.
- Applies to all employers with less than 500 employees. There may be exemptions for small businesses with less than 50 employees if the business operations would be endangered, but the Sec. of Labor has not issued any regulations about this yet.
- Coverage is much broader than the Public Health Emergency Act. Paid sick leave covers employees who self-isolate or seek medical diagnosis or treatment following diagnosis or exhibition of symptoms, to follow health care or public official recommendation or orders, to care for family members who are self-isolating or seeking medical diagnosis or treatment, or to care for children following school closures or unavailability of childcare.
- The FMLA’s job protection requirements DO NOT APPLY to the Sick Leave Act. But tread very carefully if you seek to dismiss someone who makes use of this leave. We would advise against it.
- Full-time employees are entitled to 80 hours of paid sick leave, and part-time employees are entitled to sick leave equivalent to those hours the employee works, on average, over a 2-week period.
- When the employee takes leave for his or her own self-isolation, medical diagnosis, or treatment, the employee is entitled to paid leave at 100% of his or her regular rate of pay. Cap is $511/day or $5110 in the aggregate.
- Where leave is taken to care for a family member or child, employers only are required to provide leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay. Cap is $200/day and $2000 in the aggregate.
- For those employees paid under atypical or unusual arrangements, employers are instructed to calculate average daily hours worked in the same manner as the amended FMLA.
- New paid sick leave allotments are in addition to an employer’s existing paid sick leave policies. Additionally, employers are prohibited from requiring that employees use employer-provided vacation time, sick time, or other paid time off before using paid sick leave under the Sick Leave Act.
- The FFCRA also provides a payroll tax credit for the Sick Leave Act.
Compliments of Locke Lord