Last night, President Trump signed into law H.R.
6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The bill includes two
separate paid leave mandates that will impact private sector employers with
fewer than 500 employees (note, larger employers may have subsidiaries that are
covered).
The first provision expands the Family and Medical Leave Act
to provide a new category of leave for employees who are unable to work (or
telework) to take leave to care for a son or daughter during a school closure
or if child care is unavailable due to a public health emergency related to
coronavirus. Employers are not required to pay employees for the first ten days
of leave. However, after that, employers must provide partial wage replacement
for employees on leave. Formulas in the bill provide minimum and maximum
amounts of payment. Please note that although this provision is an amendment to
the FMLA, it includes many of its own special definitions and rules. For
example, it employees who have worked for an employee for as little as a month
are covered.
The second provision implements a new paid sick leave
requirement. This provision requires covered employers to provide 80 hours of paid
sick leave for full-time employees for one of six enumerated purposes related
to the coronavirus outbreak, including remaining in quarantine or isolation as
ordered by a health care provider, self-isolating, seeking treatment for
symptoms of COVID-19, caring for an individual under quarantine or
self-quarantine, or caring for a child whose school is closed or whose child
care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19. This law also provides formulas
to determine the minimum and maximum amount of payments required.
Employers that make payments under the new provisions may
apply for a tax credit against payroll taxes for 100% of covered payments. The
new leave provisions are set to go into effect two weeks from today and expire
on December 31, 2020.
CWC plans to publish a more complete analysis of the new law
tomorrow.