My family has been self-quarantined for the past three weeks. We did so before Ohio ordered people to stay at home, and before anyone started talking about social distancing and flattening the curve.
We chose to do this because our son is high-risk with a heart defect and asthma, and none of us wanted to get him sick.
We take our responsibility to halt the spread of this killer virus very seriously. We view it not only as a responsibility to ourselves not to become ill, but also to society as a whole not to spread it to others in the event we are silent or pre-symptomatic carriers. We know that one can transmit the virus for up to 14 days after exposure and before any symptoms appear; we’ve not been closer than six feet from anyone but the four of us living this house for weeks.
Yesterday afternoon, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited (as in, for the past two weeks) regulations to the paid family leave and paid sick leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. You can download them and read them for yourself (all 124 pages) here.
Much is unchanged from the Act itself and the three sets of FAQs (one, two, and three) the DOL published over the past week.
There are, however, many key differences in how we have been interpreting the FFCRA since it became law.
I will discuss these regulations and field your questions on another Zoominar (this time, fingers crossed, free of Zoombombs), tomorrow, Friday, April 3, at 10 am ET. You can participate here: https://zoom.us/j/976011327
I’ve also summarized the key regulatory differences and highlights below.
The Department of Labor's FFCRA regulations are out. And they are significant.
If you thought you understood this Act, you don't.
Among the key interpretations:
Government stay at home and shelter in place orders qualify for leave.
Intermittent leave is very limited.
The scope of people for whom an employee can provide care and qualify for leave is narrow.
An employee cannot take childcare related leave if someone else is available to care for their child(ren).
There is a lot more to digest, and I'll have a full summary of all of the key changes in the morning. For now, you can read all 124 pages of the regs here, or just wait for me (and the rest of the employment law bloggers) to publish our summaries.
One of the questions I have received the most since the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is how employers claim the tax credit available under the Act for paid leave provided to employees.
Late yesterday, the IRS published a detailed list of FAQs explaining all of the mechanics of this tax credit. I want to focus on the key employment law piece of these FAQ, how an employer should substantiate its eligibility for tax credits, i.e., the documentation you need to keep.
The IRS discusses this important issue in Questions 44 – 46. I’ll break it all down for you here.
One employer is an anomaly, two is a trend that must be stopped.
Last week, I nominated for the Worst Employer of 2020 an unnamed national restaurant chain that was reported to be stealing (the company called it “absorbing”) its employees’ CARES Act stimulus checks by reducing their scheduled hours in a pro-rata amount.
Now, another employer has been outed with similar plans.
A quick reminder that I’ll be live on Zoom today from 1 - 2 pm ET discussing all things Coronavirus, including the DOL’s most recent additions to its Families First Coronavirus Response Act FAQs (part 1 of which I covered here, and part 2 of which I’m covering below).
You can access the Zoominar here: https://zoom.us/j/856368874 (and don’t forget that Norah promised to join for a song at the end).
Late yesterday, the DOL published a second round of FAQs (numbers 15-37) answering more questions on the operation of paid family and sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
After a week of self-imposed quarantine in my home, and a week of mandatory sheltering in place by the State, now is as good a time as any to tell everyone how I’m holding up, and also to ask everyone, “How are you?”
First me.
The truth is, I’m not great. I’m tired, I’m stressed, and I’m worried.
Yesterday I held my first Zoominar. (Is this an actual word, or did I just make it up?) I opened up my Zoom room for the first 100 people to join and ask any coronavirus-related employment law questions they wanted. I shared #MyQuarantineHaiku (see below), saw some familiar faces, met some new old friends, and answered dozens of questions.
If you weren’t able to join or couldn’t get in, you can watch it here:
Also yesterday, during my Zoominar, the DOL published its required Employee Rights poster for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. You must post it alongside your other employment law posters no later than April 1, and email it to those employees that are currently working remotely. But you might want to brush up on your PDF editing skills before you do so, because the DOL’s model poster has a big ol’ typo. In describing the paid leave entitlement for employees taking time off to care for children, the DOL lists the maximum dollar cap as $12,000 instead of $10,000. A big mistake, and one we will assume the DOL will fix soon. (Thanks to Eric Meyer for pointing this out to me.) You can also bring it to the DOL’s attention on one of its FFCRA twitter chats, or on the online forum it is hosting.
Two more things. First, I will be hosting another Zoominar this coming Monday, March 30, from 1 – 2 pm. And this time I won’t be caught off guard by the questions about how my daughter’s band, Fake ID, is weathering the coronavirus storm. In fact, she’s promised to join and perform a song for everyone. You’ll be able to access the Zoominar here.
Finally, #MyQuarantineHaiku.
Day-time pajamas
I don’t have hair to pull out
Night-time pajamas
Be well and stay safe. I’ll see everyone tomorrow.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act has an effective no later than 15 days after President Trump signed it. He signed in late in the day on March 18. We all did the math, and calculated an effective date of April 2. We all did the math.
Which is why we were all surprised when the DOL published a Q&A yesterday and announced an effective date of April 1.
What is the effective date of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which includes the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act?
The FFCRA’s paid leave provisions are effective on April 1, 2020, and apply to leave taken between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.
Apparently, everyone can count to 15 except the Department of Labor.
I work in an administrative role at a national restaurant chain.
I just got off of a conference call with corporate in which they told us that if the U.S. government sends us the proposed stimulus checks due to Covid 19, they plan to absorb the money we receive by cutting our hours to reflect that amount. In other words, if each person receives a check for $1,200, $1,200 will effectively go back to the company. Is this legal?
Space is limited. The room can only handle 100 at a time, and it’s first come, first served. Have your coronavirus questions ready, and I’ll try to get to as many as I can in the hour we have.
I'll also be recording it to share later if you can't get into the chat room.
And, if this is well received I promise I’ll do more. 😉
The question I’ve received the most in the past week is the difference between a layoff and a furlough. Both are reductions in force caused by economic conditions. There is one key difference.
A layoff is a permanent job loss, usually with no expectation of recall to full-time employment.
A furlough is a temporary and short-term reduction of one's hours (in this case down to zero) with an expectation of a return to full-time employment.
One issue that keeps recurring is what happens to employees’ health insurance if they lose their jobs related to coronavirus-related job cuts.
Effective Monday, March 23, 2020, at 11:59 pm, and continuing through at least April 6, the State of Ohio, via an order of Dr. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, has closed all non-essential businesses to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Governor DeWine stated that he would reevaluate the April 6 end date as necessary. These closures are mandatory. A copy of the Order is available here.
To help answer your most pressing questions about how this Stay at Home Order impacts your business and your employees, I drafted this FAQ.
The Department of Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the IRS announced impending regulations that will help covered businesses navigate the paid family and sick leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, including available tax credits, the small employer exemption, and a 30-day non-enforcement grace period.
What did you do to feed your soul this week? I’ve been sheltered at home with my family. We’ve decided to self-quarantine because our 11-year-old son’s congenital heart defect makes him high risk. Aside from working (a lot), I’ve turned to a few things to fill my soul with some much-needed joy.
That’s all it took for both parties in both houses of Congress to work together, along with the White House and President Trump, to pass important relief legislation for American workers. We need more cooperation like this to see our country thru this crisis.
For the next two weeks, businesses will have to get their FMLA and sick leave houses in order. Policies will be needed to be reviewed, amended, and drafted. Forms will need to be created. And new posters will have to be hung in the workplace.
During a lunch meeting of Senate Republicans yesterday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his constituency they should pass the bill. He did so, however, in the most Mitch McConnell way possible.
A number of my members think there were considerable shortcomings in the House bill. My counsel to them is to gag and vote for it anyway.
