Families First Corona Virus Response Act - what it means for you

Hope everyone is staying safe. I wanted to share this with my network.

The ‘Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201)’ took shape and will go into effect on April 1, 2020. This Act is aimed at workers and their families, to (a) provide a paid family leave benefit; and (b) grant emergency paid sick leave benefits.

What does this mean for me as an employee?

This means that if you are unable to work because of COVID-19 illness or are unable to work or telework due to childcare needs triggered by COVID-19; employers will extend paid sick leave and family leave benefits under the new Act. The Act is split into two parts that will impact our workforce (a) emergency paid sick leave; and (b) emergency family and medical leave act. 

Let’s break it down: Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act

This act applies to, and provides paid sick leave for, all employees (full-time and part-time) regardless of tenure; who are unable to work or telework because of the need to take emergency sick leave. Coverage is for 80 hours for full-time employees, and number of hours that an employee work on average over a two week period, for a part-time employee. You may only use this leave if:

1. Subject to quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
2. Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns; and/or
3. Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking medical diagnosis.
4. To care for an individual for such purposes (1-2 above).
5. To care for a child if child’s school or place of care is closed or the child’s care provider is unavailable due to a public health emergency; and/or
6. The employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition in consultation with Secretary of Labor or Treasury.

Circumstances from 1-3 will issue wages capped at $511/day based on your regular rate of pay; and 4-6 are capped at $200/day based on regular rate of pay for 80 hours in a two week period (will vary for part-time).

Second part of the Act: Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act

This part of the Act will allow an employee who is unable to work or tele-work to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to care for an employee’s child (under age of 18), if the child’s school or place of care has been closed, or the child-care provider is unavailable, due to a public health emergency. You must have worked for the Company for at least 30 days for you to take this leave.

New York Quarantine Leave

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law, Senate Bill 8091 'NY Quarantine Leave'. This law is still in flux, and much is left to be clarified. However, this runs in tandem with the federal leave (as discussed above), and only will be provided for the difference. More to come here.