Families First Corona Virus Response Act (H.R. 6201)

Signed into Law: March 18, 2020
>Effective: April 2, 2020

Overview

• Creates New Required Sick Leave to be Paid by Employers
• Applies to Employers with 500 or fewer employees
• Employer is Credited Dollar for Dollar of Expenses Hereunder Through Withholdings Tax Credit at End of the Quarter.
• 80 hours of sick leave for each full-time employee
• Part-time employees get the total # of hours they generally work in 2-week period
• This is IN ADDITION to all other current leave offered the Employee, including State required leave.
• FMLA Extension – Additional 12 weeks of paid leave for each employee out due to taking care of child whose school is closed due to COVID 19.
• Guarantees job of person out on leave.

Exemptions

• Employers of Health Care Providers and Emergency Responder can exclude such employees from these requirements.
• Potential Exemption: Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.

Employer Closure

If an employer closes after the FFCRA’s effective date (even if you requested leave prior to the closure), you will not get paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave but you may be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. This is true whether your employer closes your worksite for lack of business or because it was required to close pursuant to a Federal, State or local directive.

Required Notices

Secretary of Labor made publicly available a model of a notice that must be posted by ALL employers with 500 employees or less.

Available in English and Spanish: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic

More Information: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-questions

NY COVID-19 Emergency Sick Leave

Signed into Law: March 18, 2020
>Effective: March 18, 2020

Overview

• This Leave is not in addition to Families First Corona Virus Response Act (FFCRA) FFCRA becomes effective April 2, 2020.
• This Leave is in addition to employee’s other sick or annual leave.
• Only employees who are legally quarantined/isolated can use the emergency leave.
• However, if you are not showing symptoms and are physically able to work through remote access or similar means you are not
  eligible for quarantine leave.
• No Leave is provided for taking care of a child.
• Part-time employees get leave equal to average number of hours they work in one week.

• Leave must be used for employee with legal order of quarantined/isolation issued by the state of New York, the department of health, local board of health, or any governmental entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.
• All emergency sick leave must be taken before applying for Paid Family Leave or Disability.
• Guarantees job of person out on leave.

How to Apply: https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/new-york-paid-family-leave-covid-19-faqs

For more information: https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/COVID19

Paid Family Leave and Disability in NY

Available for

• Employee under legal order of quarantine/isolation or
• Employee when taking care of a minor dependent child under legal order of quarantine/isolation
• Employee is not eligible if can work from home and feels well enough & has ability to.
• PFL: 60% Regular Rate of Pay, $840.70/week PFL max; 10 week max
• Disability: Regular Rate of Pay, $2,043.92/week cap; 26 weeks max
• Combined weekly Cap is $2,883.70.
• PFL May Be Paid Concurrently with Disability but cannot go past Cap.
• No waiting period.

Legal Order of Quarantine Defined

Mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York, the department of health, a local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.

To date, the guidance provides that the Governor’s order for all workers in non-essential services to stay at home is not a quarantine order as defined so does not qualify for benefits under the NY PFL program, but workers may be eligible for unemployment or other federal or state benefits. The order does not include coverage for employees who are home because their employer has temporarily closed, or due to a minor child’s school closing

The law does not apply to an employee who is asymptomatic or has not yet been diagnosed with any medical condition and is physically able to work while under a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation, whether through remote access or other similar means.

Must Federal Payments and FMLA be exhausted before Paid Family Leave is Used?

Families First Corona Virus Response Act runs concurrently with NY PFL and/or Disability.
Payment through NY PFL and/or Disability is made only to the extent NY PFL or Disability is in excess of FFCVRA payments.

How to Apply: COVID-19 Paid Family Leave & Disability

https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/if-you-are-quarantined-yourself

The employee must submit their completed forms together with a copy of their order of mandatory or precautionary quarantine (issued by the relevant government entity) to their employer’s disability and Paid Family Leave insurance carrier no later than 30 days from the employee’s first day of leave to avoid losing any benefits.

Paid Sick Leave After September 15, 2020

NY State Sick Leave Law recently signed by Cuomo also requires New York employers – starting September 15, 2020 – to provide their employees with the following sick leave:

• Employers with 100 or more employees must provide their employees with 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours of paid sick leave annually.
• Employers with more than 5 employees but less than 100 employees must provide their employees with 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually.
• Employers with 5 or less employees must provide their employees with 1 hour of unpaid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave annually. However, if any employer with 5 or less employees has accrued more than $1 million of net income in the previous year, the leave must be paid.

Although employees begin accruing sick leave on September 15, 2020, employees cannot use their accrued sick leave until January 1, 2021.

Starting January 1, 2021, employers must permit their employees to use accrued sick leave for the following purposes:

• For a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of an employee or an employee’s family member, regardless of whether that condition has been diagnosed or requires medical care at the time that employee requests leave;
• For the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition of an employee or an employee’s family member; and
• For an absence of work due to domestic violence, a sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking of an employee or an employee’s family member.

Employers may not require their employees to disclose confidential information relating to leave taken as a result of any domestic violence, sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking.

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